


It Was All For Her

by puck_hattrick



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Demigods, M/M, Quests, Slow Burn, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2019-11-16 12:49:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18094616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puck_hattrick/pseuds/puck_hattrick
Summary: Lance, son of Poseidon stumbled into camp half-blood at age thirteen with no memories except a single name. He thinks he'll never discover anything about his past or the life he once had until someone comes to camp three years later with the same name to utter. Suddenly, both are thrown into a quest to find her. As they work towards their common goal, they'll find that some things are just as important as the quest ahead.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! After reading almost every Voltron fic above T rating and 100k words, I've decided to try and write one of my own. This is my first fic so please be gentle! I'll be posting this as I lean how AO3 works and trying to update regularly, so I hope everyone enjoys!

Chapter One

No one had lived in the Poseidon cabin since Percy Jackson had left camp half-blood. 

No one, until a thirteen year-old boy with sea blue eyes and light brown hair had stumbled into camp three years ago with a gash on his leg that was almost as long as the limb itself.

 

Coran and Allura, co-directors of the camp, still remembered that stormy night in August. There had been a terrible thunderstorm raging around the camp, and the boy had burst into camp soaking wet before uttering one single word and passing out.

Veronica.

The boy had lost almost as much blood as he had memories. Despite the girl’s name being the first and only thing he had said for three days, no one in camp had figured out who Veronica was for the three years that Lance had been at camp half-blood. Lance still didn’t know why he had been in such a hurry to get over the border. He still didn’t know who or where his mother was, or if she was even still alive. 

He did know, however, who his godly parent was, thanks to an incident soon after he had stumbled into the life of a demigod. 

One morning, about two months after he had arrived at camp half-blood, he had been woken up from his bunk in the Hermes cabin to go for a morning canoe ride with two of his cabin mates, James and Ryan. Poor innocent Lance still hadn’t caught on to the Hermes cabin traditions of gentle pranking of new cabin members. So, twenty minutes into the canoe ride when James and Ryan suggested they have a race, his competitive spirit flared and he didn’t think much of it but to rise to the challenge. What he didn’t realize however, was that the naiads in the lake had been bribed by the others to make sure a certain canoe accidentally tipped before the race was over. 

As promised, Lance went sailing into the lake as soon as he decided he was certain to win.

When he didn’t resurface for a minute, the boys started to worry. 

Then one minute turned into three. Then five. 

At this point, James and Ryan began to panic. Children of Hermes were pranksters, certainly not murderers. James had paddled off as fast as he could to get Allura, Coran, the entire Apollo cabin. Anyone who could have a chance of saving poor Lance once he was found. Ryan had stayed behind, furiously screaming for Lance and paddling around the lake wildly, looking for any sign of the third boy.

No one was prepared for what they would find.  
After thirty minutes of fruitless searching that had turned from a rescue to a recovery. Allura finally decided she would swim down to the bottom where Lance’s canoe had been tipped. Swimming through the murky water and fearing the worst, she couldn’t believe what she saw.

Sitting on a rock, dry as a bone, was Lance. 

And worse, he was casually flirting with one of the Naiads. 

Upon seeing Allura, Lance did a double take. She pointed up to the surface, and Lance decided he’d better follow, he must be late for a meeting or something. They broke the surface, Allura sputtering and coughing from being underwater for so long. Lance however, looked bewildered. As they swam over to the shore, he looked at Allura with wide, questioning eyes. 

Finally, they got to the edge of the lake. As Lance effortlessly climbed onto the dock and held his hand out for Allura, he noticed at least thirty pairs of eyes on him. 

“Relax guys, I wasn’t gone that long. No need to miss Lancey Lance this early in the morning.”

He cracked a smile, hoping it would lessen the tension, but suddenly thirty pairs of eyes shifted to a spot over his head. 

Hovering about an inch over him was a swirling green orb emblazoned with a trident. 

Allura was standing behind him on the dock, wringing out her hair. She looked up in shock and suddenly dropped to one knee and announced with reverence: 

“Hail Lance, son of Poseidon.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting the first two chapters to get an idea of how long they should be, but they'll probably get longer as I work to develop the story! Hope this goes well :)

Chapter Two  
In the present day, Lance was sitting on the dock with one of his best friends, a younger girl whose name was Katie, but everyone just called her Pidge. He had his feet in the water and his eyes were closed, enjoying the warm May breeze. 

Pidge on the other hand, couldn’t be so relaxed. She began fiddling with her beaded necklace. Pidge had seven beads on hers, more than anyone else at camp. She had been a full time camper since she was eight, and while she knew why she had to stay at camp, she was tight-lipped about to it to most people. 

Continuing to fiddle with the necklace, she looked up at Lance, and said in an unusually small voice:

“Do you think he’s ok?” 

Lance’s eyes snapped open. Hunk. She was worried about Hunk again. He looked over to Pidge with a softness in his eyes reserved only for moments such as this. He let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and replied 

“Of course he’s ok Pidge. Hunk is always going to be ok. He’s been doing really well at school if his letters are anything to go by, and he’s coming back for the summer in three weeks. I can’t wait to have the big guy back either, but we have to trust in his abilities to keep himself safe out there.”

Hunk Garrett, son of Hephaestus was the only member of their little friend group who was not a full time camper. Unlike Lance and Pidge, he had a mortal stepdad and family that lived in the city. Every year he went home to spend the school year with them, and with a perfect track record so far, Allura and Coran were content to let him continue, as long as no incidents occurred. 

The pair of friends missed him terribly though, and every year he left they would wait all year for him to come back. Climbing the lava wall just wasn’t as fun without Hunk shouting encouragements from his position safe on the ground. The summer session was scheduled to officially start in about three weeks, and summer campers had been arriving for a few days now. Lance and Pidge couldn’t help but hope that Hunk would somehow be among the early arrivals. 

They sat on the dock for almost another hour before Pidge’s grumbling stomach alerted them to the fact that it was lunch time. As they made their way to the dining pavilion, they scanned the faces in the crowd to see if Hunk was among them. Of course, he wasn’t but it was still nice to dream. As Lance scraped part of his food into the offering pit, he sent a silent prayer up to his father, the same prayer he had been sending for months now. Please help me figure out who Veronica is. As he sat down next to Pidge, he was silently thankful for the rules that allowed them to sit at any table during lunch. Dinner sometimes got pretty lonely when you were the only one at your table. 

Pidge was currently engaged in an argument with a girl from the Aphrodite cabin whose name was Romelle. The girls were arguing about whether or not a hot dog could be considered a sandwich. Lance couldn’t care one way or the other. He was too busy staring at Romelle’s picturesque face. She was one year older, ten times prettier than anyone in her cabin, and about to reject Lance again. 

She paused her argument to turn to Lance and say 

“If you keep staring at me your face is going to get stuck like that.”

Lance was yanked out of his lovesick stupor. He smiled and countered “I would gladly let my face get stuck if it meant looking at you all day.”

She just rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair, but the smile on her face betrayed her true emotions. Despite his incessant flirting, she had come to see Lance as the brother she never had, and they had been good friends for the better part of two years. 

As she resumed her argument with Pidge, Lance turned and looked out at the shimmering water of the Long Island Sound. He felt it odd that he didn’t feel the same sense of calm he got every time he looked out at the water. Truth be told, he was also worried about Hunk. Every summer that Lance had been here and according to Pidge, the summer before, Hunk had returned to camp as early as he could, as soon as school ended for the year. Lance had done his best to keep Pidge from worrying, but something about this year felt different. Lance couldn’t help but decide that the lack of calm he was getting from the water meant that something bad was going to happen to someone, and maybe even someone he was close to. 

After lunch, he decided to rest in his cabin instead of participating in any activities. He walked to the back, where the saltwater fountain gurgled quietly. Walking up to it, he dipped his hand into the water and sent a silent prayer up to his father. He wasn’t sure if godly parents listened to these prayers, some campers believed that they did, and some remained sure they didn’t, but they usually calmed Lance during times of stress. He asked Poseidon to keep his friends safe, and after some thought he remembered the Romelle incident at lunch and sent up a second wish, for someone to love.

He knew it was cheesy, but as a son of Poseidon he had a lot to live up to. The last son of Poseidon that had lived at camp half-blood had not only been the most famous demigod of the modern era, but he had met his soulmate in this very camp. Lance believed that there had to be someone, somewhere out there, who was right for him. Shaking his head, he flopped onto his bunk and grabbed a cloth to polish his sword.  
Lance thought that his sword was the coolest piece of weaponry anyone could own. Anaklusmos. Riptide. Lance had trained for two years with a standard issue sword until Coran had pulled him aside and pressed a ballpoint pen into his hand. With a reverent tone, he had informed Lance that its previous owner had given instructions to bestow the weapon upon the next worthy son of Poseidon to make it to camp half-blood. 

Lance had been practicing with the blade every day since it had been given to him, and he had to say he was finally getting the hang of the way the blade moved and responded to him. When he finished polishing the blade and oiling the hilt to perfection, he sat on the bed and stared out the window at the water again. The calm feeling still had not returned. Sighing, Lance decided that a nap was in order and fell into a fitful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, before anyone judges me, I gave Lance riptide because I thought it would be cool to "carry on the legacy" and I couldn't think of anything else for his sword to be disguised as except a pen sooooo


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I think once I get past the excitement and "honeymoon phase" of writing this pic, I'm gonna try and update it once a week, but for now it's gonna be pretty sporadic. 
> 
> Also I promise I'm going to try to make the chapters longer. I didn't realize how many words 100k really was until I started writing this, kudos to anyone who writes something that long omg!

Chapter Three  
Of course, he dreamed. 

Lance had figured out quickly after he got to camp half-blood that demigod dreams could sometimes be sort of prophetic, but the dreamer didn’t always know what the dream meant. Today’s dream was no exception. He was on a beach, he could feel the sand beneath his soles, but it was too dark to see anything. Suddenly, a brilliant flash of lightning pierced the air. Two figures were suddenly illuminated running along the beach. 

Another flash. Lance could see a boy in a leather jacket. 

Flash. A girl in a tattered dress.

Flash. The girl stumbled and fell onto the sand

Flash. The boy behind her was swept into the surf.

Suddenly he woke up sweating. He didn’t understand what those kids had been running from, or what had happened to them, but he got the sense that they were in immediate danger. He wondered if he should tell Coran about his dream, but he figured it wouldn’t be much help if he didn’t actually know what was going on, it would only serve to create a sense of unease. Deciding he’d had enough of ominous dreams, he headed to the arena to practice with his sword.

As he swung riptide in a circle and swiveled around to stab a straw dummy, he was startled by a voice behind him. 

“Watcha doin’ over there?”

He whirled around to see Nadia Rizavi. Daughter of Ares, and probably the best swordfighter in the camp. 

“I was just practicing, but I could use a partner.” Lance replied with a smirk 

Nadia drew her own sword. She was one of the only other campers who had a celestial bronze blade. It glittered in the sunlight as she smiled and said, “I’m always up for a challenge, you’re on ocean man.”

As they sparred, a crowd began to gather. Everyone always came to watch when someone was able to hold their own against Rizavi. They danced around the arena, metallic clashes filling the air. Just as Lance seemed to be gaining an upper hand, a horn sounded through the air. Both fighters dropped their weapons immediately. They knew the horn was only sounded during an emergency. Everyone began to rush out of the arena, eager and apprehensive to see what was going on. Lance grabbed Nadia’s hand and they ran to the top of the hill. James Griffin was crouched on the ground with none other than Hunk. 

Lance paled. What had to happen for Hunk to appear so terrified and disheveled? Why was he bleeding? He and Nadia pushed through the crowd at the same time Coran and Allura burst through the group of campers at the other end. 

“James, what happened? How did Hunk get here?”

James looked just as frightened as Hunk. He stood up and took a deep breath. “I was patrolling the border, and he just came running up the hill towards camp as fast as he could, and then collapsed as soon as he got past the pine tree. He’s gotta a pretty bad gash on his forehead, does anyone have ambrosia?

Someone from the Apollo cabin produced a square and Hunk graciously accepted it, the gash on his forehead already looking better as he began to speak. 

“I had to leave school early this year. I saw an older boy bullying a little kid behind the school, and when I confronted him, he turned out to be a Laestrygonian. I tried to fight him and that’s how I got this.” He said pointing to the space where the gash had been. “I knew I couldn’t take him on my own, so I ran for my life and I was able to call a cab but somehow he followed me. I ran up the hill as fast as I could and now I’m here.”

Everyone looked shocked. Hunk had said to many a jealous camper that the reason he was able to go home at the end of each summer was the fact that his family was so overwhelmingly mortal and normal. If monsters had been able to track him despite his family’s scent, what did that mean for the rest of their campers out in the world? 

Lance was the first to speak up. “If the Laestrygonian is still out there shouldn’t we send a patrol out to find it?” 

Nadia looked at him and raised her eyebrows. The two were alike in the sense that they could never back down from a challenge. “I’ll go with you.” She said, putting on a brave face despite the obvious apprehension on her face. Lance turned to the others. 

“Griffin, Kinkade, you’re with us. Hunk, do you feel well enough to go with us and identify him?”

Hunk visibly paled at this, but he steeled himself and shook his head. “Pidge!” He called out into the crowd. The young girl materialized instantly. Where she had been before, Lance had no idea. He had assumed she’d be at Hunk’s side in a minute, but for some reason she hadn’t shown up until now. 

“Pidge. I need you with me.” Hunk said with a seriousness unlike his normal gentle tone.  
Allura started to protest, everyone knew she had a soft spot for Pidge. But as she looked at the determination in the fifteen year-old’s eyes, she knew that Pidge needed to help Hunk. She. Knew Pidge could hold her own, and that she was instrumental in coming up with a strategy to help the patrol fight efficiently should they have to face the giant.

 

The patrol took a few minutes to gear up and put on armor, and they headed beyond the border with Apollo healers promising to remain by the pine tree in case something went wrong.

The only thing that went wrong, was that the Laestrygonian was gone. 

The patrol looked for over an hour, and no one could find any trace of the giant, no indication that he had been there at all. The most confusing thing was that no monsters even came to attack them while they were vulnerable outside camp borders. As the group trudged back up the hill feeling somewhat defeated, they explained to the healers what had happened.

The group then walked to the big house to discuss what had happened, or the lack of what had happened with Allura and Coran.

After they had finished their story. Everyone was dismissed but Hunk. As Lance walked out towards the cabins Pidge fell into step behind him. 

“I had a dream about Hunk running from something last night….” She said remorsefully. “Maybe if I had said something they could have sent someone to help him.” 

Lance looked down to see that she was fighting back tears. It was unlike Pidge to show such emotion, but he knew that this had been bothering her for days. 

“Hey, it’s ok Pidgeon.” He said gently. “Hunk’s ok now isn’t he? He’s here with us and we’re gonna have a good summer, right? How were you supposed to know what that dream meant?”

Her expression brightened, and with new energy she said “You’re right, it’s over and done with. Let’s go steal him a bunch of cakes from the dining pavilion.” She started running up the path towards it and Lance had no choice but to follow. His sense of dread was growing though. If Pidge’s dream had come to fruition so quickly what did his mean? He didn’t even know those people.” Shaking his head, he ran up the hill after Pidge, with thoughts of delicious cakes replacing his thoughts of dread.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was definitely making an effort to set up a plot point here, we'll have to wait and see if I remember to include it :)


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely gonna try and upload every Friday? School kicked my ass this week and I was supposed to go visit my friend but now I can't so it's not been a good week here :/

Lance woke up with the morning sun streaming into his windows. It had been three weeks since Hunk had arrived at camp, and three weeks of other campers arriving and describing the same things, only for a patrol to go out and find nothing. Lance’s dreams had not gone away either, the boy and girl from the first dream kept reappearing, but the dreams always ended with the girl falling and the boy being taken away by someone or something before he could reach her. 

It was always dark in the dreams too, but Lance had been able to figure out that the girl had long curly hair and the boy almost looked like he had a mullet, but then again, Lance couldn’t be sure, and who had a mullet these days? Shaking his head, he got out of bed and made his way to the showers. Confident that no one was watching him, he decided to test out one of his lesser known powers. He willed the water to heat up as soon as he turned it on.

Steam immediately began to rise from the shower. 

Lance smiled to himself. If he was ever given a quest he knew this power would come in handy. But no one had been given a quest since the fateful battle against Gaia. Lance supposed it was for the best that no demigods had been asked to risk their lives. 

Still, he had no memory of the outside world and part of him longed to see it, no matter how dangerous. 

A few people were milling about when he got out of the shower, and the unease that had permeated the camp in the last three weeks was palpable in the air as he walked back to his cabin. He got dressed and looked out the window. Pidge and Hunk were walking towards his cabin with climbing gear in hand. Finally. Something normal for them to do as friends. 

The rest of the day went about as smoothly as a day can go at camp half-blood. Lance only had to go to the hospital for one lava burn, and that was only because Griffin had challenged him in a race to the top. As he collapsed into bed that night after a rousing sing along, he thought sleep would claim him instantly. 

He laid in his bed awake for three hours.

Halfway into the fourth hour, he decided he needed to clear his head. Taking a path that he knew would help him avoid the curfew harpies, he made his way down to the sound. As he dove into the water, he sank to the bottom and laid down on a flat rock. A few curious fish swam around him, but otherwise he wasn’t disturbed. The water usually helped him clear his head, but tonight it just wasn’t working. Shaking his head, he swam back to the top and decided to walk the border of camp instead.

He skirted around the edge of the forest and the strawberry fields, finally reaching Thalia’s pine tree. He sat at the base and looked down the hill at the farmlands beyond camp.   
Suddenly, a rousing clap of thunder pierced the air. He could see that a storm was brewing outside of the magical borders of camp. One thing that Lance remembered from his life before camp half-blood was that he loved the rain. Confident that he was hidden from the harpies, he snuggled up to the trunk of the tree and watched the rain fall.

He had been sitting there for almost an hour and he felt his eyes start to close.

As he was getting up to head back to his cabin. He caught sight of something stumbling up the hill. He did a double take. Was this one of the monsters that no one had been able to find? His hand flew to the pen in his pocket. He had never used riptide on a real monster, maybe this was his chance! 

He crept toward the border hand gripping the pen tighter than he thought possible. As the figure approached he realized it was too small to be a giant, too small to be any kind of monster lately. Could this be another strange summer camper arrival? He doubted people would venture outside this late. 

Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning. 

The flash illuminated the figure’s face. Lance could see that he was human but were they friend or foe? The figure slipped and slid a few feet before struggling back to its feet. Lance backed up a few feet into camp. If this person was mortal, they wouldn’t be able to get into camp. He slid his pen into his pocket. Better to appear friendly for now. He could tell that the person wasn’t in fighting shape. Lance’s stomach lurched as the person, he could see he was a boy who looked about his age, crossed the border. He looked up, and Lance could see blood on his forehead between locks of hair plastered to it by the rain. He was wearing a leather jacket and it almost looked like he had…

A mullet. 

Horrified recognition flashed across Lance’s features as the boy ambled towards him almost in. a trance. He could see that he was limping, blood dripping from a deep gash in his leg. His eyes flashed up to Lance’s and he could see that the boy was sickly pale and wouldn’t make it if he didn’t get medical attention. 

He fell into Lance’s arms, and as he struggled to support him the boy looked him in the eyes and whispered one desperate word before passing out.

Veronica.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are starting to get longer in my word doc! Still testing out how long is long enough, I'm a work in progress I swear!


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I think the chapters are getting longer! I'm not actually sure! So finals week is fast approaching and school is ramping up. Tbh I'm a little ahead on writing chapters and hopefully that'll allow me to keep a regular updating schedule so we'll see!

The boy remained unconscious for three days. 

During that time Lance was more often than not seen pacing the porch of the big house or sitting in the hospital room beside his bed. Was it weird to keep vigil over an unconscious stranger? Yes. But Lance was holding on to hope that this mysterious boy might just have been talking about the same Veronica that Lance knew.

Well, he didn’t actually know her.

After three years of struggling with not knowing anything about his past, Lance had come to believe that whoever Veronica was, she must be the key to unlocking his buried memories. 

So, Lance waited.

On the morning of the fourth day since the boy had arrived at camp, Lance was taking his usual post in the corner of the hospital room when he suddenly heard murmuring from the only occupied bed.

“No… no you can’t take her! She’s all I have! No!”

He suddenly sat bolt upright in bed. Looking around wildly he seemed to calm down once he realized he wasn’t in any danger. His eyes drifted to Lance over in the corner, now standing at attention in case he tried to bolt. 

“You look just like her.”

And with that he promptly passed out again.

Lance remained outwardly calm, but inside he was reeling. You look just like her. He couldn’t be talking about Veronica, could he? Could this Veronica be related to him, or even to Lance himself? He shook his head. Best not to get hopeful before he could even have a conversation with this boy and find out what he knew. 

Lance sighed in defeat and settled back into his corner to keep watch for a little while longer. 

 

The boy finally woke up for real later that evening. The Apollo campers wanted him to have some ambrosia before trying any real food, and as Lance was the only person in the room besides the healers, he was tasked with making sure Keith ate enough of the square they were given. 

As Lance pulled little bits off the godly food and handed them to Keith, he tried to strike up a conversation. 

“So, what’s your name?”

“Keef.” The boy said through a mouthful of gooey ambrosia.

“Keef?” Lance kept the surprise out of his tone. What kind of a name was Keef?

“No, it’s Keith.” The boy clarified, food now swallowed. He looked around the room and back at Lance

“Where am I? How am I not dead? I could’ve sworn the last thing I remember was being close to bleeding out.”

Lance paled. He wondered what would have happened to the boy had he not seen him stumbling up the hill three nights ago. “Keith-“ he began. You’re in New York, at a place called camp half-blood. This is one of the only two places in the world that demigods are safe from harm.”

Keith turned to look at him “What’s a demigod?”

Lance smirked “Well you’re one, or you wouldn’t have been able to cross the border into camp. It means you have one mortal parent, and the other is a Greek god.”

Keith’s facial expressions went through a myriad of changes as he thought through everything Lance had just said. He turned to the other boy and said, “Do these demigods by any chance attract monsters and shit?”

Lance’s stomach twisted. Well, at least now they knew that a monster had probably been the cause of Keith’s injuries. He looked over at Keith with a certain sadness in his eyes. “Yeah, they do, at least in the mortal world.” He decided it was time to focus on what was important before they were disturbed by anyone else. Lance cleared his throat and once again turned to Keith.

“Um, Keith? Were you travelling with anyone else? How did you know to head for camp half-blood?”

Recognition flashed in Keith’s eyes, and quickly turned to a terribly pained expression. Lance could see the regret and loss in the other boy’s expression. He opened his mouth to speak and before he could utter the first syllable the door beside them suddenly burst open, and Coran bounced into the room.

“My boy! You’re awake! We have a lot to talk about, we need to make sure we find out what happened to you and hear your story.” He turned to Lance. “Ah Lance, would you mind letting me talk to this young lad here? It’s clear he’s been through a lot and I need to make sure he’s ok. You boys can exchange pleasantries another time.” Coran said this all with a smile, but it was clear Lance was not to be present for this conversation. He nodded his head and slunk out the door, twirling his pen in his right hand. As he walked out of the big house, he was tackled by a blur in an orange t-shirt that turned out to be Pidge. She loomed over him, excitement palpable on her face. 

“So, what’s he like? The boy you found! The whole camp has been buzzing about it for the last three days!”

Lance grunted and pushed Pidge off so he could stand up properly. “His name is Keith, that’s all I know about him so far. I don’t even know who his godly parent is. I’m not sure he even knows. As soon as Coran is done talking to him I’m going to find him and get more answers out of him.”

Satisfied with this answer, Pidge nodded her head seriously and raced off, no doubt eager to share the new development with Hunk. It was then Lance realized that he had barely slept for the past three days. As a person who needed a considerable amount of beauty sleep, Lance guessed he wasn’t looking very beautiful right now. He gasped as he realized that the first impression Keith had probably gotten from him was a disheveled distressed mess! That would never do. Lance scrambled off to his cabin for some much needed beauty rest and vowed to be serving looks at the sing along that night.

Four hours later, Lance was indeed serving looks.

He had gone all out once he’d realized Keith was a new camper, not yet immune to his flirting. His hair was artfully slicked back, he was wearing a clean orange t-shirt that didn’t even have any holes burned through it by lava, and he had even used some of the expensive cologne Hunk had brought him from New York City one year. Confident he was dressed to impress, the boy set out towards the amphitheater.

The fire was already glowing purple when Lance arrived, fashionably late as always. Morale had been boosted by the rumor of a new arrival and thus the sing along was in full swing. Lance joined in with vigor: everyone knew the camp classic, Old Odysseus had a Hydra, and as soon as the song was over he headed over to the spot near the front that had been saved for him by Pidge and Hunk. As the last line of the song rang out, the bonfire quieted down, and Coran stepped into the center near the fire, raising his hand for silence. 

“Campers! First of all, thank you for another wonderful sing along! I’m sure the Apollo cabin would be happy to lead us in another round of tunes, but first Allura and I have someone to introduce to you! This is Keith.”

Lance, who had up until now been trying to poke Rizavi with the back of his pen as many times as possible, head Coran say the name “Keith” and suddenly whipped his head towards the mustachioed man, eager to hear what he had to say next.  
Coran continued. “Keith came to us due to some rather unfortunate circumstances, but I think I speak for the entire camp when I say I’m glad he’s here with us now! We haven’t figured out who his godly parent is yet, so Keith, why don’t you go sit with the members of the Hermes cabin while everyone else gives you a rousing welcome!”

Everyone began cheering and hollering, and Keith blushed slightly as he shuffled off to where the Hermes campers usually sat. Lance huffed. Of course he didn’t know his parent. Getting someone alone for a private conversation in the Hermes cabin was like trying to teach Cerberus to fetch. He decided he would have to resort to other methods. 

As Keith was leaving the amphitheater with the Hermes cabin Lance pulled him aside and whispered, “Hey, remember me? If you want more answers about this place, meet me at the Poseidon cabin at a quarter past midnight."

Keith paled. He had no doubt already been told the curfew rules by Coran and Allura, but if Lance could sense anything, it was that Keith was itching to know more than he was being told. He looked Lance in the eye and nodded his head ever so slightly before turning and filing away towards the cabin.

Lance smiled. He was finally starting to believe that Keith could really have some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tagged this as slow burn but I also discovered I'm bad at writing slow burn so we'll see what happens. Also didn't go with the rivals to friends to lovers kinda thing. Not that I don't like it, I just didn't see it fitting into this fic ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello I'm here a day late oops!
> 
> I think this is the longest chapter I've written so far? Anyways, enjoy!

Lance looked down at his watch. 12:10. Keith should be here any minute. As if on cue, he heard a soft knock at the door. Lance flew to it as quietly as he could, throwing it open and shoving Keith inside. 

“Are you crazy! The curfew harpies can hear anything! Never knock!”

Keith visibly paled at this outburst. Lance saw the terror in his face and tried to backtrack.

“Don’t worry, they’ll only eat you if they catch you.”

Deciding that this was not helping, he directed Keith to one of the “sofas” he had made out of empty beds- hey, having your own cabin had its perks- and sat down next to him.

“So-“ he began. “Tell me everything you didn’t get to tell me earlier.”

Keith began speaking. Over the course of half an hour, Lance learned that his last name was Kogane, and that his mother lived somewhere in Texas. Or, at least he hoped she was still living there. According to Keith he had run away from home two years ago when something that breathed fire had burnt down the apartment complex where he lived. His mother knew it couldn’t have been her son’s fault, but the neighbors didn’t believe them, and the building owner took the stance of “He goes or you both go.” Unwillingly to let his mother be homeless because of him, Keith had run off in the night and never looked back. 

As Keith finished this part of the story, Lance looked at him with pity in his eyes and said, 

“Wow, you were really all alone for two years?”

Keith looked at him and shrugged. “Actually, only for the first year and a half. The last six months I spent with one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met. She had seen me in battle outside a Monster Donut and realized who I must be. She said she was traveling to New York, and that I should come if I didn’t want to be attacked by monsters anymore.” 

Lance brightened at this. Could this be Veronica? “What was her name?” He prompted Keith, “Was it by any chance, Veronica?”

Keith shrunk back with a look of distrust in his eyes. “How did you know that…”

Lance quickly backpedaled. Gods, why was he acting so weird? “I’m not creepy I promise!” His voice shot up an octave as he said this. He cleared his throat to clarify. “The only reason I knew that, and I was still only guessing, was that on the night you arrived. The only thing you said before passing out was ‘Veronica.’” 

Tears welled up in Keith’s eyes, the boy suddenly displaying an emotion Lance had not yet seen him display. He took a shuddering breath and looked up at Lance.

“Veronica McClain was my only friend. And now I don’t even know if she’s alive.” 

Lance wasn’t shocked. Demigods usually didn’t have that many friends because they were labeled troublemakers due to ADHD in school and having to bounce around between so many schools made it hard to keep the ones they had. Pity aside, Lance was itching to know more about Veronica. 

“Tell me about her.”

Keith stopped sniffling for a second and looked up at Lance, a sparkle returning to his eyes. 

“Well, she was easily the most badass girl I think I’ve ever met. She could run faster than me and fight better, and she was such a good swimmer that sometimes I swear she could ever breathe underwater! When she saw me outside of the monster donut we were in Georgia. Once we decided to team up, we traveled up the coast for a few months, fighting off whatever found us.”

His voice trailed off as he continued to tell his story.

“Veronica, well she had more than one reason to get here. She had been orphaned, when her mamá was killed in a plane crash… She told me that the only family she had left in the whole world was her brother, and that she would do anything to find him.”

Lance perked up at this. Veronica had a brother? She could breathe underwater? Lance jumped up and shook Keith’s shoulders, saying, “Her brother. Did he have a name? Did she ever tell you?”

Keith took a minute before responding, seeming miffed at being shaken for no reason. “No. I don’t think she ever did.” All she knew was that her mother had sent him away to a special boarding school in New York when he had been kicked out of school, but that his flight had disappeared in the Long Island sound. The authorities told the McClain’s to expect the worst, but Veronica never gave up. Apparently, they never found all of the bodies, so she had to cling to the hope that her brother could have made it.”

Lance looked down at the thin white scar trailing up his leg. He had never known how he got it, and no one else at camp did either. He figured something pretty bad must’ve happened for him to get a scar that bad. It was starting to look like all of this was tied together somehow. He wished he had the internet! Maybe then he could look up the plane crash, but if he had learned anything at camp, it was that cell phones and internet signal attracted monsters like nobody’s business. He turned to Keith, ready to continue grilling him, but when he turned around. The other boy was already asleep.   
Lance knew that he should let him sleep in peace and get into his own bed, but something stopped him. A thin stream of moonlight was shining on Keith’s face, showing off his jawline and cheekbones. Looking back, Lance knew that he was openly staring at that moment. 

When he wasn’t knocked unconscious or thrashing wildly around, Keith was rather attractive.

Lance shook his head. He couldn’t flirt with someone you just met. That was old Lance style and based on how well it had worked for him in the past, he had decided to get to know the person before he used his signature charm. Also, he had literally known Keith for two days. There was no way to tell what he was into that fast. Still at that moment, Lance decided that Keith was someone he could definitely be into. 

Sighing, he grabbed an extra blanket and draped it over the other boy before shuffling over to his own bed. What had Keith meant that first day when he had said Lance looked like Veronica? Maybe she was Hispanic like him? Lance supposed she might be the other person from his dreams. After all, he had no doubt that Keith was the first, who else would have a mullet at this age? 

Lance ran over his mental list in his head. Assuming she was the other person from his dreams, she was a little taller than Keith, had long curly hair, and if Keith was to be believed, he reckoned she must be Hispanic as well. Determined to find out more, Lance rolled over to sleep, so morning would come faster. 

 

The next morning Lance woke up to pounding on his door. Grumbling, he walked over to open it, and found Pidge standing on the steps to the cabin.

“Lance!” The daughter of Athena all but screamed in his face. “Keith is gone! No one had any idea where he is. A lot of people are saying he dipped, but he didn’t seem like that kind of person. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”

Lance blinked. Shit. He knew where Keith was. “Well, uh, I don’t know, no one knows? Wow what a mystery!” Lance exclaimed, feigning innocence. 

Just then, a second person shuffled to the doorway next to Lance.

Pidge’s frantic expression quickly morphed into a sardonic smirk. 

“Wow Lance. Couldn’t even give the kid one night of rest before you pounced huh?”

Lance was blushing furiously now. “Pidge ohmygoodness! It’s not like that at all! Can you please just go tell Allura that he’s safe and…” Lance paused before whispering with a deadly expression, “Do NOT tell her where he was found.”

Pidge just cackled and ran off. Lance turned to Keith to explain the situation, but it was clear from his smirk that he understood what Pidge thought had been going on. 

Lance whirled around to hide his blush. Keith just laughed, a clear bright sound, and sauntered out of the cabin. As he was walking away, he turned to Lance. The only thing he said was “I don’t know why she would think that. You’re taller than my usual type anyways.”

Lance was left red-faced and sputtering in the doorway. 

 

A few hours later Lance was sitting in the dining pavilion with Pidge, Romelle, and Hunk. He was chattering aimlessly about the random happenings of the day, as well as the first game of capture the flag occurring later that night, when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He whipped his head around and there stood none other than Keith. Wringing his hands nervously, he looked at the group and asked in a timid voice:

“Do you guys mind if I sit here for today? The Hermes kids are just too much.”

Hunk’s voice rang out before any of the others could say anything. “Of course Keith! You never have to ask, anyone can sit with us!” With a cheery grin, he resumed eating. Lance found it odd that Keith was still acting so shy. What had happened to the emotional and outspoken boy he had talked to last night? He figured that Keith hadn’t talked to the others as much as he had, so he guessed that it made sense. As Keith shuffled over to the bench, he sat down next to Lance. Again, odd, as Lance was on the end and sitting next to him put Keith further outside the group. Lance made a mental note to ask him about it later. 

Throughout the day Lance participated in various activities with Keith. The boy seemed content to stick by his side, and Lance was content to let him. It was nice to have company from someone who didn’t treat him like a child because of his flirting or someone who put him on a pedestal for being a big three kid. Of course, Pidge and Hunk never treated him like that, but ever since Hunk had come back for the summer, the two had spent most of their time in the forges, Hunk working to help Pidge bring all her brilliant designs to fruition. 

Days at camp half-blood had been pretty normal since Keith arrived. There had been no more monster sightings since he had arrived either. While Lance found that odd, he was content that he didn’t have to spend hours on patrol anymore, only to find nothing. 

He and Keith were walking to the archery range when the other boy spoke for what seemed like the first time in a few hours.

“Veronica is really good at archery.”

Lance’s stomach lurched. In the bliss of normality, he had almost forgotten how closely Keith was tied to Veronica. He still hadn’t been able to figure out the connection he had to her, or if he had one at all. He was dying to know more about her, but he sensed that Keith wouldn’t open up in front of all these people about something that was still so private and raw. He needed to find a way to get Keith alone again without it getting weird. Of course, if Pidge found out then she would definitely make it weird. 

As the boys were hanging up their practice bows in the equipment room, the dinner bell sounded out across camp. 

Lance dramatically held out his hand to Keith. “Shall we my dear?”

Keith laughed. Actually laughed! He brought his hand down gently like he was going to hold hands with Lance, but at the last minute he slapped Lance’s hand with a high five, a shit-eating grin on his face. Lance scowled, but it quickly turned into a grin as Keith said two simple words.

“Race ya!”

He took off down the hill, Lance cursing and sprinting after him. For someone so thin and pale, Keith was surprisingly fast. Lance guessed that he had more muscle under the baggy t-shirt and black jeans he was wearing. Who wore jeans in the summer? Keith, that’s who. As Lance tore after him, it became apparent that Keith was going to win. As Lance trudged up the hill defeated, he slumped over on the Poseidon table as a plate of food was deposited in front of him by a flustered looking wood nymph. As he got up to offer some of his food to the gods, he sent up a new prayer, one that had surprised him when he thought of it almost as much as when he said it.

“Help me find out more about Keith.”

As he sat back down, he caught a certain black-haired boy’s eye. Lance gave him a signature Lance wink and finger guns. So much for getting to know him first, although that kind of silly little stuff wasn’t really flirting. Keith just rolled his eyes, smirked, and turned back to finish his dinner. As the campers were eating, Coran stepped up to the front of the pavilion and held his hand up for attention.

“Welcome back everyone! As all returning campers have finally arrived over the course of this week, tonight is the first summer game of capture the flag! I know everyone is excited. Please finish your meals, and then report to the amphitheater to receive armor and weapons if necessary. Good luck to everyone tonight!”

As the campers filed out of the arena, Keith caught up to Lance.

“What’s capture the flag? Why’s it so special?”

Lance gaped. “Keith! My man! My dude! Capture the flag is only the most exciting single thing to happen in this camp, and that’s saying something since the north woods have monsters in them.”

Keith’s eyes widened at this, but Lance continued. “The cabins split into two teams, and whoever gets the other team’s flag first gets to be captain the next time we play.”

Keith’s eyes sparkled, and Lance beamed. He was finally getting him to show some emotion. Keith thought about something for a minute and looked at Lance questioningly. “Who are the team captains for tonight?”

Lance grinned devilishly. He turned to Keith and feigned innocence. “Well, ya know, it’s kind of hard to remember, seeing as it was last summer and all, but you know, I think I do remember. Oh yeah! Tonight’s captains are James and the Hermes cabin, and I’m not sure who else…”

Keith looked at Lance. Why had he taken so many words to say one simple thing. Suddenly, Lance whirled around.

“OH WAIT. I remember who tonight’s other captain is!” With a competitive spark in his eye and a smirk, Lance bent down and whispered in Keith’s ear.

“The other captain is me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time we'll see capture the flag ;)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shows up a week late with Starbucks*
> 
> What's up guys. I've been busy af and I'm gonna be busy af for the next couple weeks so idk how often I'm gonna be able to upload :/

Everyone was gathered in the amphitheater. Lance and James were situated just outside, ready to run in dramatically with the banners, as was tradition. Lance kept peeking his head around the entrance to look at Keith. Or, rather, scowl at Keith. The other boy had not been impressed when Lance had used his flair for the dramatic to announce that not only was he a team captain, but that they were rivals for the night! Keith had merely rolled his eyes and asked Lance if he had actually fought his way to the banner or just snatched it up with the help of his team. The nerve!

Just as he was about to scowl in Keith’s general direction for what must’ve been the twentieth time, Coran announced the captains. Lance sprinted forward, the sea green banner emblazoned with a trident trailing elegantly behind him. It was hard to keep the grin off his face as his friends cheered. It really was an honor to captain a team during capture the flag, more so if you were the only member of your cabin. As James ran in behind him he could see Keith standing among the other members of the Hermes cabin cheering. 

Lance scowled. Keith should be cheering for him. During the next capture the flag game he would make sure they were on the same team. If he wanted to find out what had happened to Veronica, he had to continue gaining Keith’s trust. Of course, he also wanted Keith to be his friend. He’d heard stories of friends injuring each other when they were on opposite teams in capture the flag that had never spoken again. 

He shook the unpleasant thoughts out of his head. It was time for the game! The two captains chose their teams. Of course, Lance chose the Athena and Hephaestus cabins, as well as a few others. On the other hand, it was no surprise that James made sure to recruit the Ares cabin. While Nadia was easily the best swordsman in the camp, her siblings were anything but defenseless. On Coran’s signal, Lance and James ran to opposite sides of the woods to hide their banners. Satisfied that his banner was sufficiently concealed, he sauntered back to the amphitheater. Donning his armor, he saw a curious look on Keith’s face as he watched him toss a pen into the air, spinning it before catching it elegantly in his hand. He smirked at Keith. “Just you wait pretty boy.” He thought to himself. He turned around to thirty pairs of expectant eyes and realized that he was the captain of the team tonight. 

He cleared his throat. “Team Poseidon’s Angels! Welcome to the winning team! We’re going to kick ass tonight so get ready!”

He lowered his voice as he explained his strategy to the team. The flag was so well-hidden that it would only need one or two guards, one with a long-rage weapon and one with a short-range. Lance was glad he had chosen to ally with the Hephaestus cabin, they had recently designed arrows that would shock and immobilize the other team but do no serious harm. Once two campers were stationed near the flag, Lance led the rest of the team to the border. He gave a rousing cry and pointed his pen, now a gleaming bronze sword, to the sky as his team charged around him.   
Of all the things he had done since coming to camp half-blood, capture the flag was by far his favorite. Not much compared to exhilaration he felt running through enemy territory, hitting less experienced campers with the flat of his sword to knock them out of his way. Anyone he would run into trouble with was either on his team or most certainly on the offensive. As he ran deeper and deeper into the woods, he knew he was getting closer to his objective. Suddenly, as if he actually had a sixth sense, he could see the enemy flag. There it stood, glittering in a small clearing, the silver banner emblazoned with a caduceus, symbol of Hermes. 

Lance grinned. Making sure he was hidden from view he put his fingers to his mouth and give three sharp whistles. He listened for a second, before heard three longer whistles in return. He turned from his hiding place to see three of the four guards run off in the direction of the whistle. Lance knew that once they got to the source all they would find was Pidge and a team of archers from the Athena cabin. Hunk, on the other hand, was now making his way towards Lance’s location to assist him in retrieving the flag. 

Lance usually loved the spotlight, but he figured Hunk needed a win after the stress he’d experienced getting to camp. He had already resigned himself to letting his friend be the hero of the night and making sure he touched the flag first. 

As if on cue, Hunk materialized behind him. Lance jumped three feet in the air. That cabin and their inventions. The previous summer, Hunk had designed a headband that would make the wearer invisible at the press of a button. It was made of celestial bronze, and the chain mail it was made from was so fine that it almost felt like fabric. Hunk was fiercely protective of it and wore it almost all the time. Rumors still flew as to how he had done it. Some people said that his father had blessed it, others said that he was just that good of a metalworker. 

He grinned at Lance’s shocked expression as he calmly looped the bronze band around his belt. “Dude, I’m never gonna get used to that.” Lance said shaking his head. Hunk smiled again. “No one says you have to buddy.” Suddenly his face turned serious. He peeked around Lance and around the hiding place to see the final guard slowly approaching the boys with a sword drawn. 

Lance gulped as Hunk tapped him on the shoulder and put his finger to his lips. Of course the last guard had heard them talking. Lance jumped out and was met with the slash of a sword. He parried expertly, and looked to the face of his opponent, smirking. 

He paled when he saw who it was. Keith. Of course, it had to be Keith. He laughed as Keith attempted to land another strike, only to have to once again expertly deflected by Lance. This was gonna be too easy. Lance continued to deflect blows, not yet attempting to land his own. Suddenly Keith took advantage of his overconfidence and hit Lance in the calf with his sword. 

Surprised and gritting his teeth with pain, Lance stumbled back towards the hiding place. He tapped Hunk and pointed the other way. Hunk nodded and crept off towards the back of the clearing as Lance steeled himself to face Keith once again. Keith was better than he thought! But based on the length of his strikes, he seemed like he was used to fighting with a short ranged weapon and was suddenly given a long one. 

Lance knew he could take advantage of this. As he continued to dance around Keith, he saw Hunk creeping closer to the banner. Better yet, he had figured out how to counter Keith, and the other boy was looking increasingly nervous. “Are you ready to give up mullet?” Lance shouted over the clash of metal on metal. Keith scowled and swept his sword in an arc that caught Lance’s shoulder, tearing a small hole in his t-shirt. Lance finally backed him against a large boulder and pointed his sword at his chest. He smirked. “You put up a good fight mullet, but it’s clear who’s won today. Do my chores for a week and I might let you live.”

He looked down expecting to see Keith smile and accept defeat, but the boy looked terrified. Lance paled; had no one told him that you couldn’t actually maim or seriously injure during the game? Lance was about to lower his sword and help the other boy up when Keith slumped against the rock and his eyes rolled back in his head. 

Lance screamed and stumbled back, falling as a ghostly skeletal warrior burst out of the ground. It was dressed in a tattered blue uniform, with a rusty musket hanging over its shoulder. It turned its hollow skull around to focus on Lance with a sickening crack. The skeleton lunged toward him, grabbing his throat in its boney hand. Lance was so terrified at this point he couldn’t even think straight. Worse, he was losing the ability to breathe. Gasping and choking, the last thing he remembered was Keith’s horrified expression before he lost consciousness. 

 

\-----------------------

 

When Lance regained consciousness, he felt himself in a familiar situation. He was in the hospital room of the big house, but instead of being the one keeping vigil, he was in a bed. His head throbbed. Holding it gingerly he sat up and looked around the room. His eyes locked on a small figure asleep in a chair in the corner. Of course. Keith. 

Lance swung his legs to the side of the bed and stood up. Well, that was a mistake. His legs buckled, and he gave a yelp as he tumbled to the ground. Keith’s eyes flew open as he saw Lance crumpled on the ground cursing. He ran over to help him up. 

Once Lance was resituated in his bed, Keith pulled the chair next to him and handed him a juice box with a happy Satyr on the side. Lance smiled. Nectar. He took a small sip, and the spicy flavor of Paella flooded his mouth. With no explanation as to why this was what he tasted whenever he had to drink nectar, he just assumed it must’ve been something he liked to eat as a child. As he sipped the godly drink, Keith cleared his throat.

“I’m really sorry about what happened last night.”

Lance looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face. “Whatever happened, it’s fine and it’s in the past. But, if you don’t mind telling me, what did happen? I don’t remember anything.”  
Keith sighed and looked towards the ground. Looking back up at Lance, he took a deep breath.

“Well, I was assigned to guard the flag. You came to retrieve it and we started fighting. By the way, Hunk ended up getting the Hermes flag. But anyways, once you cornered me I thought you were actually going to kill me and I didn’t know what to do. I prayed to whoever my parent was to save me and then passed out.”

Lance frowned. So, no one had told him the rules. He looked at Keith “That’s kinda my fault. No one told you the rules of capture the flag here. It really is just a game, and no one’s supposed to get hurt.”

Keith’s expression turned grim at that. “Well I guess I broke a rule then because I ended up hurting you. According to Allura, when she found us I was unconscious against the rock, you were lying limp across the clearing, and Hunk was locked in battle with a skeleton.”

Keith looked away again. “Apparently, I came to as I was being carried back to camp. Thinking I was still in the middle of a battle I jumped to my feet and started punching the air.” Lance laughed at that image while Keith scowled and continued. “Well everyone backed away from me and at first I thought it was because I had won the fight, but apparently I was claimed that night.”

Lance sat up, wincing as his head started pounding again. He took a few more sips of the nectar, hoping it would at least make his head hurt less. He looked at Keith. 

“So? Who’s your parent?”

Keith looked him, apprehension painting his features. “Are you sure you’re ready to hear this?”

Lance nodded. “Dude, this is the one of the biggest moments in a demigod’s life! Of course I want to hear!”

Keith looked him dead in the eyes. “My name is Keith Kogane. Son of Hades.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically for a note on godly parents: Keith and Lance are badasses, so they deserve to have badass parents and powers. I read a demigod fic that I really liked once, where they were children of Aphrodite and Ares, but personally I just think they're big three material ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all.   
> I'm back.
> 
> I had to step away from my secret little project for a while. School and friendships took a turn for the worst and it was just all too much. I also get bursts of excitement to write and I bang out three or four chapters at once, so I guess I ran out of ones to post. Hopefully the next hiatus isn't as long as this one was, thanks for sticking with me!! ;_;

Lance was equal parts excited and terrified. Keith was a child of the big three! If he was being honest with himself it felt kinda good to have someone else like him at camp. However, as Lance knew well having been himself for the last three years, children of this nature held some extremely powerful abilities. If anything, this explained why Keith was constantly being chased by so many monsters before he had arrived at camp. 

Lance felt sorry for Veronica, whoever she was. If she had been travelling with Keith she must’ve also had to constantly deal with monsters. Had she even been a demigod? An image appeared in his head of a teenage girl screaming as her companion slashed the shit out of a moose or a cow. Lance chuckled to himself as Keith cocked his head quizzically.

“What are you laughing about?”

Lance’s expression immediately turned serious as he realized that he hadn’t actually said anything to Keith since the other boy had announced his parentage. He realized that Keith might be thinking he was laughing at him for being a son of Hades. Lance sputtered, trying to explain what he had been thinking to himself. 

“Ok I promise I wasn’t laughing at you! I was just thinking that it makes sense now why you’d attract so many monsters, and I was imagining a mortal like Veronica screaming while you stabbed a cow or something.” 

Keith smiled at this. Lance was glad to see him smile. He hadn’t once since Lance had woken up and seeing a break in his concern relaxed the atmosphere for a second. 

“Lance, did you hit your head when that skeleton attacked you? I knew you were dumb, but not that dumb. I thought I made it clear that Veronica definitely wasn’t mortal. I mean, why would she have been heading here or even known about this place if she was?”

Lance frowned. How had that thought slipped his mind? Maybe Keith was right, and he had hit his head. Gods, he couldn’t afford to lose any more memories. He turned to Keith. “Is there anything else I forgot from last night?”

Keith shrugged. “I have no idea, I’ve been here ever since they brought you in.” A blush dusted his cheeks as he continued in a low voice, almost as if to himself, “I feel responsible and I don’t know what I would’ve done if you had gotten hurt worse.”

Lance beamed! This angry pale person of no emotion actually cared for someone! Still, Lance needed to figure out if he really had missed anything. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, albeit a little wobbly, and shuffled over to the door. 

“Keith, I need to find out if I missed anything important, are you coming with me?”

Keith immediately jumped up and scrambled after him. 

As the two boys walked out into the main area of camp, they were greeted by endless pairs of eyes on them. Then, the whispers began.

“-child of the big three...”

“knew he wasn’t just a Hermes kid…”

“-two at camp in less than 10 years? This is some Percy Jackson era shit!”

Lance noticed the blush beginning to color Keith’s cheeks again. He turned to the other boy, plans of being filled in on any details forgotten.

“Hey Keith, why don’t we just go get your stuff and move it into the Hades cabin?”

Keith turned to him, a grateful look evident on his face. As the pair walked up to the Hermes cabin and knocked on the door before pushing inside. To their surprise they saw James and Ryan packing up Keith’s few belongings and folding them on his bed. Upon seeing Keith, the boys turned and waved. 

“Keith! Congrats on finding out your true parentage bro!” Said James with a smile. Ryan merely grunted in agreement, never one for many words.

Keith stepped away from Lance to talk to James. “Thanks for having me here man. Even if it was only for a few days you really helped me start seeing this place like a home.”

James beamed. He handed Keith a bundle of clothes and shooed him and Lance out the door. “Better get going, I bet you can’t wait to have a cabin all to yourself.”

Keith suddenly paled. Lance looked over to him with a quizzical expression on his face. “Dude, are you ok? You kinda just went blank there for a second.”

Keith turned to him. “I guess I didn’t realize that I’m going to be in a cabin all by myself. It’s gonna be weird after sharing a room with all these people.”

Lance shrugged. “I’m not gonna lie to you, it can get lonely sometimes. But it’s also great to have a place to be alone when you need to be. And honestly dude, I get lonely too. So, if you ever need it, there’s always a bed open for you in my cabin.”

Lance said this to Keith with a lopsided smile. As they walked over to the Hades cabin, Lance could’ve sworn he saw a faint blush dusting his friend’s cheeks. 

 

They walked into the cabin. As daunting as it had been from the outside, it seemed even more daunting to Lance on the inside. Keith, however, was a different story. His eyes seemed to sparkle as he took in the space around him. He walked along the wall until he selected a bed that suited his needs. He looked over to Lance and patted the space next to him. Lance reluctantly shuffled over and sat down. 

He didn’t feel like he belonged in here. But if Keith was happy with this décor, he was guessing that he was gonna have to get used to it. 

As Keith looked around the cabin, Lance decided to ask him a question he’d been quietly thinking about. He cleared his throat and turned to Keith.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about this but in the weeks leading up to you getting here we were hearing about monsters attacking campers as they arrived, but whenever we went to look for them, we couldn’t find them. Would you happen to know anything about that?” 

For the second time that day, all the color drained out of Keith’s face. He turned to Lance with a solemn expression on his face. 

“They kept disappearing because of me. Whenever I found something in the woods I would kill it. At first, I’d be camping out in the woods around the camp for a week. I thought you guys would be more likely to let me in if I proved myself. The only reason I came up the hill when I did was because one finally got the best of me. And then when I got here I didn’t say anything about it because I didn’t want to be singled out for being dangerous.”

A single tear slipped down his cheek as he delivered the next words.

“That was also the day Veronica disappeared.”

Lance hadn’t realized he was gripping Keith’s hand until he looked down and saw that the other boy’s fingers were turning blue. He whipped his hand back, mumbling an apology. Suddenly, just as if they were on a switch, Keith’s tears disappeared, and all of a sudden, the sarcastic boy from earlier was back. 

He turned to Lance, eyes filled with mirth. “You know, if you wanted to hold my hand, you could’ve just asked instead of waiting for such a sad moment.”

Lance jumped up from the bed, sputtering and red-faced. Keith could only laugh as the other boy got more and more flustered. Giggling he said “I’m sorry, that was mean. I only did it because I never got to try that shit out on Veronica because she was only into girls and I’m only into guys.”

Lance’s blush only deepened at this statement. That meant there was a chance Keith also found him attractive! As much as he wanted to explore that possibility, he hadn’t developed a crush on a guy in a long time, and he wasn’t even sure how to approach them anymore. That, and they needed to focus on the task at hand. 

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he turned to Keith with a neutral expression on his face. Keith suddenly stopped giggling when he saw Lance’s face. Sliding back onto the bed he quietly spoke up.

“What happened to her?”

Keith looked down at his feet, a guilty expression forming on his face. “I don’t know. She was with me and we were fighting some huge monster. Suddenly, I got hit in the head and she was screaming out for help. The next thing I knew, she was gone, and I was running, and then I woke up in a bed in the hospital wing.”

Lance thought about that for a second. “Dude, that’s horrible. I can’t imagine something like that happening to Pidge or Hunk.” He closed his eyes for a second and thought some more. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open.

“Keith!”

“What.”

“Sorry to be this frank, but you didn’t actually see her die, did you?”

Keith thought about it for a second. “Well, no I guess not, but I’m pretty sure she stopped screaming.” 

Lance jumped up again, only this time it was in excitement rather than embarrassment. “Dude! Remember what happened to Percy Jackson’s mom?”

Keith’s blank expression told Lance that he did not.

Unfazed, Lance continued. “Well he’s only the most famous demigod of the last century! He helped to win the titan war! But it all started when his mom was taken to the underworld by a minitour and he had to go save her!”

Keith looked up at Lance, with a sudden fire in his eyes. “Do you think something like that could have happened to Veronica?”

Lance gripped Keith’s shoulders with a serious expression on his face. “I don’t know. But she’s important to you, and if this is the same Veronica who’s important to me, don’t we owe it to her to try and find out?”  
Keith’s expression turned quizzical. “Important to you?” Lance opened his mouth to explain, but before he could get a word out, a horn sounded across camp signaling dinner. Grumbling stomachs forced both boys to walk towards the door. 

Lance wasn’t satisfied. He had to find out more about Veronica and explain himself to Keith. He turned to the other boy with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“We’re not quite done here. Poseidon cabin. Quarter past midnight.”

The glint in Keith’s eyes was all he needed as an answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not sure if I ever actually clarified but I think we all know that Ryan, James, and Nadia are the MFE kids. I'm not sure what I want to do with Ina yet but I'm pretty sure she'll be in there eventually!


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update a day late! My computer got left downstairs and my brother was supposed to bring it up but he forgot so I'm still trying to stick to a regular schedule don't worry!

12:10. Lance looked down at his watch for the second time that week, waiting on the same person. He had learned so much today, and so many things made sense now. Keith had been the one attracting the monsters, probably because he was such a powerful demigod. However, he had also been the one taking care of them until he’d lost his partner and it had all become too much to bear.

Lance felt for the guy. No one should have to suffer this much before they even turned eighteen. 

There were so many thoughts swirling in his gut from these past few days, but two thoughts prevailed over the others.

The first was: I think Keith’s Veronica could also be my Veronica.

The second, which took him somewhat by surprise was: I want to be the one to make sure Keith doesn’t have to suffer anymore. 

During dinner he kept sneaking glances at Keith. Like him, the son of Hades was sitting alone at his cabin’s table. Lance caught him looking wistfully towards the Hermes table more than once. While Lance usually found himself doing this too, on this particular night he found himself staring at Keith far more. He really was attractive. That, and Lance couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten this close with someone in as few days as Keith had been here. 

He hoped the son of Hades would be sticking around camp. Lance had decided that he desperately wanted to get to know this boy more. Was this the beginnings of a crush? Lance wasn’t 100% sure, and he didn’t dare visit the Aphrodite cabin, for fear of a rumor being started. However, now he knew Keith was into guys. Emboldened by this fact, he decided to freshen up a little bit while he waited for Keith to sneak in.

Putting on his best smile, he was sprawled out across his bed reading a book with a flashlight and doing his best to appear casual as the other boy crept in. Lance noticed that Keith hadn’t knocked this time. Pleased that he remembered, Lance sat up and gestured to a space next to him on the bed.

Once the two were seated next to each other Lance sighed and turned to Keith. “Sorry we got interrupted earlier. I guess there’s not much to my Veronica story, but you deserve to know. I guess I should tell my whole story.”

Lance started from the beginning, telling Keith how he had no memories of his past, and how, like Keith, the only thing he had said when he arrived at camp was Veronica. He continued his story, telling the other boy his thoughts.

“Keith, I’m starting to think that your Veronica and my Veronica are the same person.” He gestured down to his leg. “No one knows how I got this scar. There’s nothing to rule out that it was from a plane crash. It’s all starting to make sense. If they never recovered a body, maybe it’s because Veronica’s brother didn’t drown. What if he couldn’t drown?”

Lance suddenly looked into Keith’s eyes as all the color drained from his face.

“I think my name might be Lance McClain.”

Keith’s eyes were closed as he thought about this for a minute. “You know what Lance, this is all so crazy that it just might make sense.”

Lance was so excited he could sing. “Keith. We HAVE to get her back. For your sake and for mine.” I might have never fought outside of camp, but I’ve been training for this moment since I got here. We have to ask for a quest.”

Keith looked puzzled at this. “We wouldn’t even know where to start. And Coran told me that quests usually involve three members. Are they gonna make you choose between Pidge and Hunk?”

Lance thought about it for a second. “Well, the oracle might be able to give us some hints. Also, I could never choose between them. I think they’d have to make an exception and let the two of us go by ourselves. This is such a personal matter, I don’t know how they couldn’t.”

In the end, the two boys decided that asking for a quest was the best course of action. They also decided to wait a week and ramp up their training to prepare for such a thing. Quests were never taken lightly, and many demigods didn’t return from them. While both boys desperately wanted to save Veronica if she could be saved, doing so at the cost of their own lives defeated the purpose. 

The next week passed in a blur. They told no one about their plan, choosing instead to ramp up both individual training and learning how to fight alongside one another. Most of their friends chalked it up to their growing friendship. Pidge and Hunk however, saw right through it. As the boys were heading to the arena one night after dinner. They were confronted by the son of Hephaestus and daughter of Athena.

“Where do ya think you’re going lovebirds?” Pidge asked, a sly smile on her features. 

“We’re just training, we’ve been doing this all week.” Keith said defensively. “Lance was just helping me hone my skills that I developed living on my own.”

While Hunk seemed content with this answer, Pidge wasn’t falling for the bullshit. She looked Lance straight in the eyes and said “Do. Not. Lie. To. Me. What are you doing?”

In the three years he had known her, Lance had never successfully lied to Pidge once. Wise beyond her years, she had learned all of his tells within a week of meeting him.

Lance took a step back from Pidge. He was silent for a moment before finally blurting out, “We just want to find Veronica!”

Pidge’s expression of triumph quickly turned to one of shock as she heard Veronica’s name. “Lance, you don’t mean the Veronica, do you? You can’t. How come you never heard anything about her for three years and then all of a sudden when Keith shows up you suddenly know everything.”

Lance gaped, suddenly unsure of what to say. Keith stepped up behind him, and turning to Pidge and Hunk he simply said, “I think you guys need to hear the whole story.”

 

An hour later the little group was sitting on the dock that jutted out into the sound, basking in the summer sunset as Keith told them everything he had spent the last three weeks telling Lance. If Lance was being honest, he was a little jealous that they got to learn so quickly what it took him so long to figure out. However, the rational side of his brain supplied that it would be useful to have Pidge and Hunk to lobby for their cause. 

As Keith finished telling the part of the story that had to do with Veronica, he shot Lance a look.

Should I tell them about the quest?

Lance nodded solemnly. 

With that, Keith turned back to Pidge and Hunk. Lance watched, awed by the seriousness in his face as he swore them both to ultimate secrecy, and told them of the plans to ask for a quest. 

At first, Hunk and Pidge seemed skeptical, but seeing the looks on both of the boys faces, they slowly began to understand how serious the other two were about this. Pidge opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment, who should show up other than Allura. 

“Keith,” She began, seriousness evident in her tone, “May I speak to you about something important? Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble, I just want to ask you about something that’s been going on at camp.”

Keith shrugged and got up to follow Allura, but Lance could see the fear in his eyes. Despite Lance doing his best to keep the raven haired boy away from all the negativity surrounding big three kids, he could tell that Keith was still apprehensive about the stigma placed on him. 

Lance turned to his two best friends and asked them to keep one more secret. He told them why the monsters had suddenly stopped appearing and disappearing.   
“But that doesn’t explain why that Laestrygonian went after me all the way in New York City…” said Hunk with a frown. 

Lance also frowned at this. “The only thing I can think of is that maybe Keith and Veronica were in New York City too and the combined scent drew the monster towards all of you.” He murmured aloud. He turned to Pidge. What do you think?

She looked out across the water. “Honestly, it seems like it could be the reason. I guess you’ll just have to ask Veronica when you find her.” 

Pidge gave him a wink, and Lance found himself happier and more hopeful than he had been in a long time. He’d made a new friend, and his old friends unconditionally supported him in his desire to finally find out about his past. 

Sighing, he stood up and stretched his arms above his head. Turning to his friends he said, “I think I’m gonna go for a swim to clear my head, I really need to think about this quest thing and how we’re going to get it approved.” 

Hunk stood and whispered something to Pidge, who scrambled up onto his shoulders. Lance narrowed his eyes. Those two were up to something. Laughing and silently hoping it was a good something, he waved to them and dove into the water.

“Be careful not to miss curfew!” He heard Hunk call from the surface. Lance poked his head up, dry as always, and gave him a wink before diving back down. 

 

The Long Island sound really was beautiful. Far from the murky waters of New York City, the sound glittered blue and always seemed to be warm when it flowed past Camp Half-Blood. Even as the sun was setting Lance could still see light streaming into the water. 

He found a flat rock to lay down on and closed his eyes to think. Would he and Keith really be able to find Veronica? He wasn’t even 100% certain she was still alive. Monsters didn’t often take people and keep them alive. If she was being held somewhere, that might be even worse for the people trying to save her. Usually when a monster took someone alive demands had to be met before said person could be released or rescued. 

With all these thoughts swirling through his mind, Lance should’ve found it hard to fall asleep. However, without even realizing it, that was exactly what he did.

Unfortunately for Lance, he found himself standing on the same beach of his recurring dreams. It was dark, but he could feel the salt spray whipping him in the face and the sand beneath his toes. 

Lightning flashed.

However, instead of a boy and a girl running across the beach, the boy had disappeared. By this point Lance was almost certain the people in his dream were Keith and Veronica, so it made sense that Keith was no longer on the beach, as he was safe from danger. 

Lance watched as the girl he assumed was Veronica ran along the beach and fell into the sand. This time was unlike the last because this time, she got up. Lance watched in horror as she ran into the churning water. 

Lightning flashed again, and Lance could see what she was running towards. Halfway submerged in the middle of the water was the tail of a plane. 

Veronica ran towards it. Lance saw a small hand pop out of the water, before disappearing just as quickly. Veronica ran further into the water, far enough that she had to start swimming. The waves were getting rougher now, and she was finding it harder and harder to stay afloat. Throwing her body towards the plane and the hand with the last of her effort, Lance saw that she was screaming something.

A name. 

He looked to the sky, as lightning flashed one final time. Desperately trying to read the girl’s lips, he no longer had to as for the first time and the last, he could clearly hear her.

“Lance!” 

 

He awoke with a start. Whipping around, he realized he was still underwater, and that it was now dark outside. Kicking up, he broke the surface.

Lance felt his face. It was wet, which made no sense because the rest of him was dry. He realized that the damp feeling wasn’t water, but his own tears. As he pulled himself onto the dock, he looked around for the harpies.

“Fuck it.” He thought as he ran, tears streaming down his face, to the only place he knew he’d have someone to talk to.

The Hades cabin.

Not caring that his watch now read 1:56 am, he threw open the door. In an instant the cabin’s only inhabitant was on his feet, camp issued sword in his hand, a comical contrast to the pajama shirt and boxers he wore. 

“Lance?” Keith’s voice rang out sleepily in the dark. He flipped on a small light next to his bed and saw that Lance was still sobbing. Immediately he ran towards the taller boy.

“What happened? Are you ok? Did anyone hurt you?” Keith continued to ask questions until Lance collapsed whimpering into his arms. Not knowing what else to do, he stood there and held him until they both sank to the floor, still hugging each other.

They stayed in that position for what felt like hours. Keith hadn’t had much interaction with crying people and didn’t know what to do besides continue holding onto Lance and occasionally stroking his hair. As soon as Lance was calmed down enough, held let go and held Keith at arms’ length, a somber expression on his face.

“Keith, Veronica is still alive. Veronica is my sister.” 

Keith sat on the ground. Mouth agape. He had suspected that Lance and Veronica were related as soon as the other boy had started to make connections, but how did Lance suddenly know that one of the most important people in his life was still alive? 

He looked at Lance. “How do you know?”

Lance’s expression turned dark. “I’ve been having dreams. I didn’t know who was in the dreams until I met you.” He proceeded to explain the dreams that he had been having, as well as the one that had caused him to show up in Keith’s cabin at one in the morning crying. 

The main thing this explanation did was strengthen Keith’s resolve. He took Lance’s hands in his. Looking him directly in the eyes he made a promise. 

“We have to find her. We will find her.”

Some of the tension immediately bled out of Lance’s shoulders as he learned that he would not have to bear this burden alone. “We’ll go to Coran and Allura tomorrow.” He said to Keith, steely determination in his eyes. “They have to say yes at this point, how could they not?”

With this, he got up to leave, but paused at the door. He hesitated and turned back to Keith with an uncertain look in his eyes.

“Keith, I know this is gonna sound really weird, but is there any way I could sleep here tonight? I don’t think I can be alone. I can’t have another dream like that tonight I just can’t.”

It was then that Lance looked around and noticed that none of the other beds had sheets on them, and that Keith’s, which was really two pushed together to make one large bed, was not only the singular made up bed, but also currently occupied by Keith. 

Blushing furiously at the awkwardness of his request, Lance scrambled towards the door and began mumbling an apology. He was stopped by a cool hand on his wrist.

“It’s ok I don’t mind.”

And that was how they found themselves together under Keith’s sheets in the makeshift double bed. Lance couldn’t remember the last time he had shared a bed. It felt nice. Lance rolled over and saw that Keith had already fallen back asleep. There was a sliver of moonlight dusting his cheekbones from a window above the bed, and damn. It was at this moment that Lance became 100% certain that he had a crush on Keith. 

When Lance woke up hours later, sun was streaming into the cabin. Despite his gloomy first impressions, as he looked around the room, he could see that while still dark, the interior was rather nicely decorated. 

Lance tried to get up, but he felt a weight pinning him down. He suddenly realized that it was Keith’s arm tucked around him, holding the taller boy close to himself. Lance didn’t know what to think. He’d only realized he had a crush on this boy last night, and now all of a sudden, he found himself cuddling the very same boy. Frozen, he had kind of decided to lay back down until Keith woke up when he heard a voice gravelly with sleep.

“What time is it?”

Lance looked at his watch. 10:30. Shit, that meant they’d missed breakfast. He had no doubt in his mind that Pidge would be thinking something devious was going on. Lance gently wiggled himself out of Keith’s embrace, noting that the other boy hadn’t really reacted one way or another to finding them in that position, and stood up, stretching his arms over his head. Keith got up too and shuffled towards the bathroom. 

“Lance, why don’t you go back to your cabin and change? We can find Allura and Coran after that and see what they think about all of this.”

Lance agreed, and forty minutes later the two boys found themselves on the steps of the big house. 

Lance suddenly remembered Keith’s sudden departure yesterday. Turning to Keith he asked, “What did Allura want from you yesterday?” Keith sighed and simply said, “She wanted to know if I knew anything about the monster situation. I told her I was probably responsible, and she left it at that.”

Lance cringed. Surely Allura wasn’t putting blame on Keith? “Did she seem upset about it?” Keith squirmed a little before replying. “No, she just seemed tired. I guess two big three kids in less than five years is a lot to deal with you know? I think she’s just glad it’s over for now.”

Nodding, Lance reached for Keith’s hand. Spinning him around until they were face to face, he looked him in the eyes and simply said, “We’ve come this far. We can do this.”

They walked into the big house and didn’t look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally Lance knows what we all been known. Ladies and gentlemen, this is called dramatic irony. Also I'm low-key trying to set up some mutual pining so we'll see!
> 
> Side note: I may be crazy but I'm writing this fic without any sort of outline so please tell me if you see any plot holes so that I can go back and fix them! I've already noticed a few that came up as I was writing new stuff so don't be afraid to comment and point them out!


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So late post again bc I was visiting a friend and didn't have my computer to upload but here is what was meant to upload on Friday :)

Getting a quest was easier than they thought it was going to be.

When the boys walked into the big house, Allura and Coran were in one of the main rooms playing a game of cards. Lance found this odd seeing as how Allura had seemed so stressed last night when she came to get Keith. However, even the busiest people are allowed to take a break once in a while.

Coran was the first to spot the two boys standing in the doorway, hands still linked. 

“Ah, Keith and Lance! What brings you two here on this fine July afternoon?”

His tone was cheerful, but Lance couldn’t help but notice the ginger haired man glance down at their interlocked hands.

As the two boys jumped apart blushing, Keith was the first to speak up. “We actually need to talk to both of you about something really serious.”

Coran’s cheerful smile faded into a look of distress. What could be going on with two of the most powerful demigods in camp. Just as he was about to speak, Allura got up and ushered the pair gracefully into a small living room and the four of them sat down on couches. 

It was Lance who spoke up this time. “We know this isn’t the most orthodox way to do this, but we’d like to keep this quiet. I’m sure as you’re now aware, Keith was partially responsible for the monsters showing up in the woods around camp. But he wasn’t the only reason.”

Lance launched into the story that he had been told about Veronica McClain, with Keith adding small corrections or comments throughout the story. He then took a deep breath and proceeded to tell the directors about his dream last night, and how he had discovered that this girl must be his Veronica as well.

“And that’s why we have to find her.” Lance finished, his eyes glimmering with determination. “She’s the only family I have left. And, she might be the only family Keith has left as well.”

Allura looked to Coran, a certain sadness in her eyes. Lance had seen this look before. Allura turned to the boys with nothing but sympathy in her eyes.

“I know how important this must be to you. But we can’t just send two children of the big three out into the world with so little real world training. If you wanted to do something like this, it would take at least another summer before Coran and I could be sure you were ready.”

Lance looked over to Keith, and he could already see the telltale glimmer of tears in the shorter boy’s eyes. He opened his mouth to respond to Allura when someone suddenly burst through the front door of the big house. 

Standing in the doorway clutching her knees and breathing heavily, was Ina Leifsdotter, the camp’s resident oracle of Delphi. She had taken over the position from Rachel Dare after the former oracle had named her a worthy successor and left camp to experience life as a mortal. 

She was relatively new to the position, and still had some trouble interpreting and controlling her prophecies. She usually sought out Coran and Allura when this happened so Lance assumed this was one of those times. 

“Excuse me” she began, “I just received word from the spirit of Delphi.” Noticing that Lance and Keith were also present she turned to the boys and said in a timid voice, “It concerns you to, so you’d best stay and listen.”

Ina suddenly stumbled and started to collapse. Her eyes began to glow with the telltale green light of Delphi, and mist began to swirl out of her mouth. Keith jumped up from the couch to catch her, as an ancient voice emanated from somewhere inside her. 

Sons of sea and down below  
Seek what is lost, girl of the bow

Send more than two, you are destined to fail  
A single pair of heroes must prevail

Sword and dagger, water and bone  
For your misdeeds, you must atone 

Find your prize, trapped in sleep  
Or the dead will gain a soul to reap.

Just as she uttered the last word, Ina’s eyes returned to their usual blue color, and she looked up at Keith, who helped her to her feet. 

Turning to Allura and Coran she said with a solemn voice, “Sons of sea and down below? That has to mean Poseidon and Hades, right? I’m not sure about the rest of the prophecy but I know it concerns these two.” 

Allura turned to the boys. “I guess the gods have realized you need this quest more than we thought. If you train hard for the next two days, I believe with this prophecy there is nothing to do but send you to find this girl.”

Keith and Lance exchanged a smile. They finally had a chance to set things right. 

The group agreed to tell no one about the quest. It would no doubt cause problems if campers found out that not only were two children of the big three being sent on a quest together, but one of their newest campers had received a quest before any of them. Lance knew he was going to tell Pidge and Hunk about the quest, but that was only because they already knew.

As if by some sixth sense, those very two were waiting for the boys as they walked back to Keith’s cabin to get his camp issued sword.

Pidge had a shit eating grin on her face as she got up from her perch on the steps of the Hades cabin. “So, how’d it go?”

Keith answered before Lance could. “We’re leaving in two days.” 

Pidge gave him a high five. “Dude that’s awesome! Lance has been wondering who Veronica is since he got here.” She paused for a second before asking, “Who else are you taking with you?”

The tension in his friend’s faces was obvious. Lance looked at each of their expressions. He couldn’t tell if they were eager to go or hoping they wouldn’t be chosen. He sighed and told them the news.

“That’s the hard part. The prophecy says we can only have two people.”

Hunk, who had been sitting quietly and taking it all in suddenly spoke up. “You guys already have a prophecy? What does it say?”

Lance repeated the prophecy for his friends.

Sons of sea and down below  
Seek what is lost, girl of the bow

Send more than two, you are destined to fail  
A single pair of heroes must prevail

Sword and dagger, water and bone  
For your misdeeds, you must atone 

Find your prize, trapped in sleep  
Or the dead will gain a soul to reap.

As he said the word dagger, all of the color drained out of Hunk’s face. He turned to Pidge. “How in the world did the oracle know?” 

Pidge looked back at him with equally wide eyes. “You must have had inspiration from your dad or something. There’s no way this was coincidental.”

Only then did Pidge and Hunk notice the two confused boys standing next to them. Hunk reached into his pocket and pulled out two small silver bands.

“Keith, we’ve been working on these since you and Lance started training like crazy. Pidge watched you fight and noticed that you might be better suited to close range weapons.” He gave them to Keith with instructions to put one on each wrist.

Keith slipped them onto his wrists, still a little confused. Sure, he’d had a small knife before he met Veronica, but as soon as she had gotten her bow she had given him a sword and that was the only thing he fought with for the next year. Pidge pushed her glasses up on her face and simply said

“Flick your wrists.” 

Keith did so and found himself holding two gleaming celestial bronze daggers. 

Lance stood there, his mouth open in shock. The knives just looked so right in the shorter boy’s hands. Keith gave one an experimental swing, and all he could do was stand there, mouth still agape. How did someone make swinging a knife look so good? He wasn’t sure what he was going to do alone with Keith for gods knows how long. He knew the boy wasn’t straight but how was he supposed to know if he could ever like him back? 

As Keith continued talking to Lance and Hunk, they showed him how to touch the tips of the blades together to convert them back into bracelets. Somehow the tiny circlets matched perfectly with his orange camp shirt. Lance managed to compose himself and get a few words out.

“Dude, those are probably the coolest weapons I’ve seen since riptide.” 

Keith nodded, turning to Pidge and Hunk. “I can’t thank you guys enough. I’ve only been here for a few weeks and I feel like you three are the best friends I’ve ever had. Well, besides Veronica of course, but I’m sure she’ll get along with all of you.” After hugging the son of Hephaestus and daughter of Athena, he turned to Lance.

“Wanna go try these out with me?” 

Lance had never whipped his ballpoint pen out of his pocket so fast in his life. 

 

Through some experimentation, the boys discovered that the daggers could be summoned one at a time through a flick of a single wrist. They could also be put away one at a time by touching each tip to the other bracelet as opposed to each other. Finally, and Lance didn’t think he’d ever figure out how his friends had managed this, if Keith lost one of the blades during battle, it would show back up in bracelet form on his wrist.

Pidge had been right. Keith was more much suited to short range fighting. As soon as he began dueling with the daggers, Lance found himself having to work harder and harder to keep up. 

After what seemed like hours, riptide finally clattered to the ground. 

Keith had one of his daggers at his side, having just disarmed Lance, and the other one pointed at the taller boy’s throat. For a minute Lance swore he saw murder in the other boys eyes, but just as he was considering begging for his life, Keith dissolved into a fit of giggles. Stepping back, he brushed his hair out of his eyes and shouted, “These are amazing!” over to Pidge and Hunk who had been watching the boys progress. 

Lance’s pride was slightly wounded from being bested, but then he remembered that he had won every round before this one. He also discovered that he was feeling immense pride for Keith and how fast he was progressing. By tomorrow, he knew that they’d be a lethal pair. 

As he walked to dinner with his friends, he couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. The prophecy had basically confirmed that Veronica was alive, but it was vague on so many other aspects. How would they know where to go? Ina hadn’t even given them a place to start. He supposed it wasn’t her fault. As he scraped a portion of his food into the fire pit, he prayed to his father to give him and Keith some guidance on the quest.

When Lance finally fell asleep hours after the bonfire and returning to his cabin, he dreamed.

However, this time it was a new dream.

He found himself in a beautiful garden. It seemed to extend endlessly and everywhere he looked, lush trees were dripping with fruit. As he hungrily reached up to grab an apple, a female voice sounded next to his ear.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

He jumped back and stumbled straight into a beautiful golden haired woman. He knew instantly from his training who she was and dropped to a knee.

“Persephone.” 

The woman laughed, a beautiful sound all in its own. “Rise my child, for I am only queen of the underworld. You are not yet of my domain. Although I am a goddess, we are closer to being equals than you might think.”

Lance looked around, and down at himself. He was shocked to find that he was wearing a black robe instead of the baggy shirt he had fallen asleep in. He looked over to the goddess with a quizzical expression.

“Lady Persephone, why are we standing in your garden? Why am I wearing the robes of the dead? Does this have anything to do with the quest I’m about to go on? Is Veronica here?”

She laughed again “Patience my child. All will be explained. The girl you seek is held in slumber. You must make haste, for the stasis can only be maintained for another four days’ time at best. One more thing young hero. It would behoove you to abstain from the fruit of my garden both now and in the future.”

With that, she disappeared in a shower of golden sparks, and Lance bolted awake, gasping.

As he looked around wildly to confirm that he was back in his bed in his cabin, he saw a figure standing in the doorway. Hand on his pen, a closer look at the figure confirmed it was Keith. He walked over to Lance’s bed with fear in his eyes and the taller boy could only assume that they had just gone through a similar experience.

“Dream?”

“Dream.”

Lance immediately scooted over to make room for Keith on his bed. The raven haired boy sat down and began to describe his dream.

“I woke up in a field. The grass was black, and everything seemed dead. Everyone around me was wearing these horrible hooded black robes and all you could hear was swishing as they wandered around. I went up to one of the figures to ask where we were, but they couldn’t talk and all they did was wander around.” 

Keith shuddered a little and leaned against Lance for support as he continued. 

“I went up to so many people, I lost count. Finally, as I was about to give up, I saw her. Veronica was one of those awful figures. I ran up to her to try and hug her, but my body passed right through hers. She didn’t even remember me Lance! She didn’t even know who I was! She swished away like I was nothing!” Tears were streaming down his face by this point. 

“I can’t lose someone else. We have to find her.”

Lance felt the sudden urge to embrace Keith, and the two boys sat on the bed for a little while until both of their heartbeats had slowed to a reasonable pace. Lance let go of Keith and wiped a tear from his face.

“I think you were dreaming about the fields of asphodel. I had some kind of dream about the underworld too. I think it’s safe to say that Veronica is down there somewhere, and that’s where we need to go.”

He paused before saying, “Isn’t that where Percy Jackson went on his first quest? Where’s the entrance again? I think it’s somewhere in California.”

Keith nodded. “From what Coran told me that sounds right.”

Lance suddenly jumped up from the bed. “Keith! We need to leave Right. Now. Persephone told me that Veronica can only be kept sleeping for four more days at most.”

Keith’s eyes widened. Lance was right, they needed to leave as soon as possible.

Lance helped Keith up, and instructed him on what to bring. Twenty minutes later Keith was outfitted with a backpack that contained a change of clothes, and some squares of ambrosia that he had stolen from the camp store. His twin bracelets glinted on his wrists in the moonlight.

Lance’s bag also held a change of clothes, as well as twenty golden drachmas he had been saving for an occasion such as this. He ushered Keith behind his cabin, and towards the woods. They would be leaving camp via the Long Island Sound. Lance would have no problem traveling in the water, but Keith might. Oh well, he’d figure that out once they got there. 

As they stumbled out onto the beach, Keith looked around. “Lance, did you think this through? How in the world are we going to get out of camp this way?”

Lance smirked at his quest partner despite having no idea himself. “Trust me pretty boy, I got this.”

The blush that dusted Keith’s cheeks was slightly less noticeable than Lance’s. The taller boy waded about knee deep into the water and knelt down, concentrating. 

Father, if you’ve ever favored me at all, if you want me to find your lost daughter, help me.

Keith watched bewildered as a small sailboat seemingly materialized out of nowhere. Lance beckoned to him as the boat slid up to the dock. He saw that there was no one on it, and silently wondered to himself how in the world they were going to sail this thing.

Lance was having the same problem too. But as soon as he stepped on the boat a feeling overtook him. Despite never taking a sailing class in his life, he suddenly knew exactly what to do. With a simple thought all the ropes jumped to attention and the boat lurched away from the dock. 

Keith stumbled and was caught by Lance who suddenly looked at ease in his position. He turned to Keith with a goofy grin. “I feel like I’ve been meant to do this my whole life.” He sent up a silent prayer of thanks to Poseidon as they sailed into the night.

The Sound took them to the East river, and by early morning they had reached the city. Glassy eyed mortals on the ferry paid them no mind as they docked their little boat. Lance assumed this must be a trick of the mist. As soon as they had gotten off the boat, it sank into the water and disappeared. Lance turned to Keith.

“Welcome to Lower Manhattan.”

He explained to the shorter boy that before they could get anywhere, the needed some mortal money. For some reason, Keith found himself assuring Lance that it wouldn’t be a problem and that he’d take care of it. The boys walked through the city until they found an ATM that didn’t seem to have anyone using it or waiting in line. Keith suddenly grabbed Lance’s hand and closed his eyes.

Lance watched, dumbfounded as Keith’s other hand melted into a black mist and disappeared inside the ATM. When his hand reappeared, he was holding a wad of cash. 

Lance tried to keep his expression neutral as they quickly walked away from the ATM. Keith calmly put the money in his bag as Lance continued to stare. As they walked through the city, he worked up the courage to ask Keith what in the world had just happened.

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess it’s a child of Hades thing? It just kinda felt natural.”

Lance sputtered. “Keith! That’s stealing!”

He turned to Lance unimpressed. “Lance, that bank is worth billions of dollars, and I only took $1000. That’s enough to get us to California and to afford some food. Now do you want me to go put it back or do you want to go save Veronica?”

Lance huffed. He didn’t feel right about it but of course he wanted to go save Veronica. “Promise me you won’t do it again unless you have to?”

Keith thought about this for a second and nodded. The boys continued walking until they reached Penn Station. When Keith had been in New York with Veronica she had pointed out Penn and Grand Central and told Keith that they were the best ways to travel. Needless to say, they wouldn’t be taking a plane.

The clerk’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as Keith produced nearly $800 cash to pay for their tickets. He looked down at the two teenagers. 

“Excuse me sir, but we usually don’t accept cash transactions in amounts higher than $200. Do you mind telling me why you should be an exception?”

Lance turned to Keith, panic growing on his face. Keith gave the clerk a practiced look, rolled his eyes, and said in his best nasally rich kid voice

“Daddy like, won’t let us have his credit card since we maxed it out last time? He’s gonna be like really angry if we’re not to California on time.”

He finished the sentence with another eye roll. The clerk had decided that he wanted this spoiled brats out of line as soon as possible. With a huff, he stamped their tickets and waved them on.

As they walked to their gate, Lance looked around and couldn’t help but notice a group of tall bald men staring back at them. He moved closer to Keith and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“We’re definitely being watched.”

Keith nodded once, careful not to let his expression give anything away. As the gate came into view Lance noticed that the men looked closer than they had before. He started walking a little faster, grabbing Keith’s hand to keep the shorter boy at his pace. In his loudest annoying kid voice, he shouted, “Come on Kevin! I want to get a sandwich before the train gets here!” 

Praying Keith would catch on, his shoulders slumped in relief when Keith replied, “Ok Lawrence, chill out! Dad said the train’s gonna be here in twenty minutes, so we have to like, hurry!” 

Using this as an excuse, both boys started running. However, they could see that the men were still following them. Lance made the mistake of looking back. Each of them only had one large eye in the center of his head. 

They continued to run, but soon, the hallway dead-ended into their gate. The men showed no sign of stopping. Keith looked to Lance and nodded. He flicked his wrists and Lance uncapped his pen.

Upon seeing that their prey was armed, the lead cyclops backed off a little. His brothers were undeterred. One of them charged at Lance, only to meet an unlucky fate at the end of his sword. 

Lance whooped. This was going to be easier than they thought. As he backed up towards Keith to face the remaining two, he heard a female voice overhead.

Train 452 to Los Angles is now boarding!

Shit! That was the train he and Keith were supposed to be on! He looked over to Keith to make sure the other boy knew but found that Keith was currently deadlocked in combat with the second cyclops. Lance showed the worker his and Keith’s tickets, keeping up the rich boy act. 

“Uh I’m sorry but my brother is like, having an argument with that ugly old man over there? If you’ll just stamp his ticket he’ll be along in a minute.”

He batted his eyelashes at her, and the bored looking girl suddenly perked up and said, “Of course cutie! Maybe I could get your number in exchange though?”

Lance panicked for a second, he didn’t have a cell phone! Demigods were never allowed to have them because they attracted monsters. She handed him a slip of paper, and he quickly scribbled down the first ten numbers that came into his head.

“My phone’s off right now, but I’ll text you as soon as I get to California baby.”

Lance kept up the suave rich boy act until he saw Keith had managed to slice the second monster into pieces. “Hurry up Kevin! We like gotta go!” The shorter boy jogged after him, the main cyclops still too stunned at the quick defeat of his brothers to move. The boys ran down the ramp that led to the train, thinking they were in the clear. The same voice chimed overhead

Train 452 now departing!

Shit shit shit. They really needed to go! Lance grabbed Keith’s hand, and shoved his own in the door to keep it from closing. As he was about to tug Keith inside, he felt something pulling his friend in the other direction.

Apparently the third cyclops had caught up. 

“Keith!” Screamed Lance, momentarily forgetting to use the alias he had come up with. He pulled on Keith’s arm, but the cyclops pulled harder. Just as he was about to give up and let the train leave without him, he saw Keith flick his right wrist. 

The cyclops howled as Keith used his dagger to cut off his hand. Lance was still pulling on his arm, and the force yanked the smaller boy inside. The disintegrating monster tried to follow them onboard, but the door closed on his face. 

The train started to pull away and as he turned to dust, he could only get one sentence out.

“Traitor to your father, don’t think you’re safe. We will find you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok two things: The prophecy actually took forever to come up with, and I only included klance on the quest because its not that I don't love hunk, pidge, and all of the characters, it's just hard to write for two, let alone three or four. I also didn't want to have a person to distract from what's coming lmao ( ͡° ͜ ʖ ͡°)


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello from beyond the grave! I honestly can't remember the last time I posted a chapter and honestly I suck for that. I was looking through my draft with the intention of finishing the chapter I've literally been working on since like June, and I realized I had a full one written, so here you go! If you've stuck with me this long you certainly deserve it!

Lance flopped into his seat on the train and sighed. He had let himself think that this was actually going to go well when they didn’t get immediately attacked in New York City. He wondered if anyone had realized they were gone yet. He assumed Allura would at least know. She was always up early.

Lance turned to Keith sitting in the seat next to him. He opened his mouth to say something when Keith spoke.

“Traitor to your father? What did that guy mean by that?”

Lance was just as confused as Keith. He wasn’t even sure which boy the cyclops had been referring to. Keith sighed and returned to looking out the window. A slight rain had started to fall. Lance looked at it wistfully. He couldn’t remember why, but deep down inside he knew that he had once loved the rain.

He didn’t remember what it felt like though. It never rained within the camp’s borders. 

He looked back over to the shorter boy curled up in the window seat. “Dude, you took out two of those guys in less than 10 minutes, you must be tired. Why don’t you get some sleep and I’ll wake you up in a few hours?”

Keith looked like he was about to protest, but seeing Lance’s worried expression, he nodded.

Lance looked around the train car as Keith snuggled into himself and began to fall asleep. On the wall he saw a map of the route they were on, as well as a container full of paper maps next to it. He decided he’d better grab one of those. It could come in handy.

As he sat back down, Keith shifted in his sleep. Lance wondered if he was having a dream. Suddenly, he shot up as if he had been suddenly injured. Lance reached out to wake him but thought better of it as he slumped back down. 

This time however, instead of curling in on himself, his head ended up on Lance’s shoulder.

The taller boy didn’t know what to do. The boy he’d been crushing on all week had fallen asleep on his shoulder! Did he wake him up so it wouldn’t be awkward? Lance decided against it. It would be better to have a well-rested companion and an embarrassing moment than intact pride but an exhausted Keith. Lance sighed quietly to himself and began to watch the rain.

Despite his best efforts, he too fell asleep.

Four hours later, Lance snapped awake. He looked over at the map. According to the schedule, they’d be in Salt Lake City in an hour. He gently nudged Keith, who was still asleep on his shoulder. The shorter boy blinked awake. Lance couldn’t help but notice that Keith didn’t seem to mind that he’d fallen asleep on his friend’s shoulder. “What time is it?” He asked sleepily. 

Lance’s brain short circuited for a minute. He didn’t think he’d ever seen Keith’s face this close to his. Were his eyes purple? Lance shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked down at his watch.

“Uh, it’s like 3:30 local time. Apparently, we’ll be stopping in Salt Lake City for a few hours. Why didn’t they tell us there was gonna be a layover?”

Keith shrugged. Looking around the car he noticed that there was an old lady sitting in their car who hadn’t been there before. Keith decided she must’ve been getting food or using the bathroom when they had been getting settled and didn’t think much of it. 

Looking over to Lance, he noticed that the taller boy was also eyeing the woman. He looked over to Keith and gave him a look that said, time to find new seats.

Keith silently agreed. Once again, he called upon his best nasally teenager voice.

“Lawrence, I’m hungry! Take me to get food!”

As the two boys walked towards the door, they noticed that the old lady had something in her hand. It almost looked like she was knitting a giant sock. 

Lance pushed Keith along into the next car. Once they got a few more cars down, they decided they were safe from the old woman. As they sat down, both boys examined the contents of their bags, relieved to find that everything was still there. 

Keith turned his bag around to put it on the seat next to him, and found that while he slept, he had received a pin that said

Smile, Jesus loves you!

Smirking to himself, Keith decided to keep the pin where it had been placed. If anything, it would add to the illusion of innocence that they were trying to portray. 

As the train pulled into Salt Lake City, Lance and Keith made no move to get up, agreeing that staying on the train would be the best course of action. Unfortunately, those plans as an engineer came on the loudspeaker and announced that the train was having engine problems, and that all passengers would be required to disembark with their luggage. 

Grumbling, the boys shuffled off the train. They were content to just sit in the station until the train was fixed, but as soon as they had chosen a bench to sit on, a girl who looked about their age dressed in a long skirt and long sleeved shirt hobbled up to them.

“Hi! My name is Kathleen! Do you have a moment to discuss the salvation of our people on this earth?”

Keith was already rolling his eyes, ready to snap at the girl, but Lance, who was ever the flirt, was already springing up and pointing honest to gods finger guns at the girl.

“I’ll follow you anywhere as long as you let me look into those pretty eyes.”

The girl’s face lit up. “Perfect! I’d actually like to invite you wonderful young men to a temple meeting! We’re going to have free refreshments as well!” she said with a wink.

Keith opened his mouth to protest, but the growling of his stomach reminded him that Kevin and Lawrence had yet to get any actual food that day. And hey, free was free. If they could save some of the money they had left by listening to a gospel story Keith was here for it. He kind of felt sorry for her. They at least owed it to her to hear her out.

That was how they found themselves following Kathleen through the bustling streets. She had assured them over and over again that her friends were bringing other people from their train to hear of the salvation of the lord, and that they’d all be back in time.

As they walked into a beautiful marble square, the boys could see that Kathleen had been telling at least a partial truth. There were a few other girls, equally as pretty and conservatively dressed herding confused groups of tourists towards a building marked ‘Visitors Center.’ 

They walked into the visitors center, grateful to be hit with a blast of cold air. Kathleen and two of her friends walked in behind them. Lance was still walking in front of Keith. What he said in this random stranger, Keith had no idea. The girls directed the boys to a snack table.

Keith looked around and noticed that all of the other confused train passengers were gone.

He whipped around to find Kathleen standing behind him staring. “Aw! You guys just missed the movie! We ran out of seats! Guess we’ll have to do a special showing for you two in about fifteen minutes!” she exclaimed a little too cheerfully.

Lance looked at her and winked. He winked! “Whatever you say doll face.”

She gave him a smile and ambled along to a place behind the refreshment table. Keith picked up a cookie. Something was off about these girls. He gingerly put the cookie back down. Best not to eat one in case someone had messed with them.

The pair shuffled around the lobby of the visitors center until the confused looking tourists began to stream out of the movie theater. They walked towards a girl with red hair who was holding up a sign that said Follow me to Salvation! Jesus Loves you! Keith paled. He whipped his bag around, only to find that the pin was no longer attached. 

Something was definitely wrong here.

Keith turned around just in time to see Lance follow Kathleen into the movie theater.

Panicking, Keith had no choice but to follow him in.

Inside the theater was dark. There were about five rows of seats, and a large screen in the front advertising that the next showing would begin soon. Kathleen was standing on the stage beaming, and Lance was sitting in the front row staring up at her.

Deciding to act cool for now, Keith went to sit next to him. Kathleen was joined onstage by two other girls.

“Thank you for coming out to listen to our message today! I’m Kathleen and these are my sisters Skyler and Melanie!”

She looked at each of the two girls before continuing.

“We hope you enjoy your visit today! You two boys are going to make a fine meal!”

Lance suddenly shot up in his seat. Did that pretty girl just say meal? 

His hand flew to the pen in his pocket as the girls began to shed their clothes, revealing that they were not normal missionaries. Instead, each girl had one horrible furry gnarled leg and one made of gleaming bronze. Their eyes were suddenly glowing red. Lance paled. Being at camp for so long had given him one advantage, he was knowledgeable of many types of monsters.

These girls were unmistakably Empousai. 

He looked over to Keith, who already had daggers in hand. As the first monster, the one apparently called Melanie lunged at the boys, the movie began to play.

Long ago, a prophet named Joseph Smith came to America….

Lance heard Keith yell as the empusa dug a claw into his shoulder. He started to see red. No one was hurting Keith on his watch. He threw his sword like a javelin at Melanie, who turned her head just in time to see a celestial bronze sword fly through her left eye. She screamed and exploded into yellow dust.   
Keith had put one of his knives away, and Lance could see that he was now clutching his bleeding shoulder. He made his way over to the shorter boy, about to ask if he was ok, when he heard a scream. 

“Sister! You will pay, son of the sea god!”

Lance felt his pen reappear in his pocket. A few moments later he was once again holding riptide. He lunged at the second empousa. This one appeared to be Skyler. Already more dangerous than Melanie, she held a whip in her hand that was crackling with electricity. Strange, Lance could’ve sworn she walked in with a bible clutched under her arm.

As he danced around her brandishing riptide, he was too busy to notice Kathleen creeping towards Keith. 

“Ugh! Why weren’t you seduced by me like that other idiot?”

“Surprise.” Grunted Keith, still holding his shoulder. “Just not that into girls.” 

She gave another furious scream and made the mistake of looking over at Skyler and Lance, still locked in battle. Keith took this moment to swipe at her face with the knife in his left hand.

Just as if a million other things hadn’t gone wrong today, he missed.

Growling, Kathleen wrenched him up by his injured shoulder, and sank her teeth into his neck.

Keith screamed in pain. The movie was still playing, and he began to swim in and out of consciousness. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Lance shoving his sword through Skyler’s chest. 

 

And that is how the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came to be…

The movie ended as Lance watched Skyler dissolve into dust. As the dust settled he noticed Kathleen standing over a body slumped on the floor. All the color drained out of his face as he realized who it was.

Keith. The one person he had to protect on this quest. They were supposed to have each other’s backs. Now Lance didn’t even know if he was still alive.

Screaming in anguish, he ran towards the final empusa. Eyes blazing, she turned to Lance.

“This miserable child has already betrayed his father, and now he has failed you too. What is the point of trying to save him when he means nothing to you?”  
Lance seethed. How dare she question Keith! He charged towards her, sword in hand. She batted her eyes and flipped her hair, and suddenly Lance found himself on his knees at her feet.

“Oh my gods! Baby are you hurt?”

Kathleen put on her best pout. “Only a little, but I think I’ll be ok. He was the one who hurt me though!” She said, pointing at Keith menacingly. 

Lance blinked. Why would Keith hurt this sweet innocent girl? He looked back to Kathleen, tears glimmering in her eyes. “You’re such a strong, handsome man. Can you make it better?” She sniffled, holding out her arms. 

Lance began to shuffle into her embrace, a dopey smile on his face. She grinned wide and opened her mouth. Lance could see rows and rows of sharp teeth.

What a lovely smile was all he could think as that very same set of teeth began to close around his throat. 

He was saved by someone driving a dagger into Kathleen’s pretty blonde head. 

Lance suddenly snapped out of his trance to see Keith standing above the dissolving empusa, murder in his eyes. Then, just as quickly as Keith had gotten up and stabbed her, he collapsed. 

Lance immediately went into panic mode. Keith was unconscious, and his shoulder was still bleeding. That, and the bite on his neck had started to turn black around the edges. Lance wasn’t even sure if he was still breathing. What to do, what to do? 

Lance wished that they’d brought along someone from the Apollo cabin. The only time he had ever healed anyone was when he gave Keith nectar in the hospital wing of the big house. 

Wait! That was it! Lance grabbed Keith’s backpack which had been flung into the corner of the room and dug in it until he found a bag of squished ambrosia squares. Grabbing the biggest one he could find, he nudged Keith’s mouth open with his fingers and shoved part of the square inside.

Almost immediately color began to flood raven haired boy’s cheeks. The bleeding on his shoulder had stopped, and the blackness was beginning to fade from the bite mark on his neck. Lance watched with a mix of astonishment and horror as the wound closed up, leaving a jagged scar in the unmistakable shape of teeth. 

Keith’s eyes fluttered open. The first thing he saw was a very concerned Lance hovering over him. He was about to ask if they had beaten the Empousai when Lance pulled him into a tight embrace.

“Thank gods you’re ok.”

Keith managed to prop himself up enough to return the hug. The last half hour was honestly a blur to him. Gods, the whole day was sort of a blur. The last thing he remembered was following some girl through the streets of Salt Lake City. 

As Lance reluctantly let go of Keith, he looked down at his watch. “Shit Keith! Our train is scheduled to leave in ten minutes! Can you walk at all? We need to be on that train.”

Keith groaned and sat up. He finished off the square of ambrosia as Lance helped him to his feet. He kicked at the pile of dust that was formerly Kathleen and slung his bag over his back. Lance grabbed his hand and they raced out of the theater. Someone yelled at them about spilling popcorn all over the place. Keith supposed the mist was making the mortals think the dusted monsters were popcorn spills. 

There was no time to apologize as they ran out of the building and into the street. Tearing down the road towards the station, the boys barreled in and past a disgruntled security guard demanding to see their tickets and IDs.

“No time! Already late!” Lance’s voice rang out as they ran through the terminal.

Train 452 now departing. 

A male voiced all but announced their doom as they pushed past the ticket counter employees and onto the platform.

Just in time to see their train pulling out of the station.

Well shit.

Lance’s posture deflated, and he began to sink to the ground. Then he remembered that they had just made a lot of people very angry. 

Keith yanked him back up as they jumped onto the tracks that their train had just left. None of the station employees were dumb enough to follow them down. The two boys ran as fast as they could out of the station. They didn’t stop running until the buildings turned into trees.

Heaving, Keith looked over to Lance, who was barely out of breath. How had he run that long without getting tired? Keith supposed that years of endurance training at camp had to help. 

“Do you think we should get off the tracks before another train comes along and flattens us?” Keith said to a frustrated looking Lance.

“Yea that’s probably a good idea. I just wish we had looked where we were going before we ran.” He looked around, trees on all sides. Wondering how they were going to get back to civilization, he stepped off the tracks and slumped down, setting his backpack on the ground next to him. 

Wait. His backpack! Digging into the bag, Keith watched, confused as Lance produced a railroad map.

“Grabbed it while you were asleep.” Explained the taller boy.

Keith sat down next to Lance as they tried to figure out which direction was which on the map. After fifteen minutes of staring, Lance determined that they were facing east and needed to head the opposite way. Keith was about to agree, when a rumble came from his stomach.

Keith realized for the second time today, that they had not eaten in over twenty four hours. 

“Lance, we need to eat if we’re gonna keep going.”

Lance was about to protest when a growl from his own stomach made the decision for him.

The boys used the map to find a highway that ran parallel to the railroad. Walking along, they found a rest stop. There were a couple fast food shops, and one sign that glared brighter than all the rest.

MONSTER DONUT

Needless to say, they decided to avoid the monster donut. 

They walked into the restaurant and ordered two burger meals. Deciding to enjoy the air conditioning for a little while. As Keith opened his burger, he looked over to Lance.

“Why did you spend the whole time in Salt Lake City flirting with that girl?”

Lance blushed and looked down at his burger. “I actually have no idea. One second I was looking at you and the next, she was in my face. It was almost like I was under some sort of spell? She did it to me again during the fight, and I almost didn’t get to you in time.”

His voiced faded to nothing as he took another bite of his burger. How was he going to judge Keith’s interest in him if Keith thought he was a shameless flirt? He put his burger down and cleared his throat.

“Just so you know, I’m not like that all the time. Like don’t believe what people say at camp. There was a time that I flirted with anything that walked but I promise I’m not like that anymore…”

Lance didn’t miss the small blush that dusted Keith’s cheeks as he said anything that walks. Had he not been obvious to Keith about his bisexuality? Did the raven haired boy think he was only into girls? Surely not. Keith had lowkey been flirting with him back at camp. When no one was around, Lance had gotten to see some of the other boy’s snarking attitude and sarcasm. Even so, he guessed that all he’d done since they set out on the quest was flirt with two girls. Even though that was for the sake of the quest, Keith didn’t know that. Lance scowled. He’d have to find a better place to bring this up than in a fast food dining room.

Thankfully they were able to finish their meals without being confronted by another monster. As they walked out and back towards the tracks. As they passed the monster donut, Lance noticed Keith suddenly move a little closer to him. 

Lance’s breath hitched. He supposed that monster donut reminded the other boy too much of Veronica. In a ‘fuck it’ sort of moment he wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulder and pulled the shorter boy even closer. He was pleasantly surprised when Keith didn’t make an effort to push him off.

They stayed like that for a while. If Lance was being honest with himself, it felt pretty nice.

They walked until it got dark. Keith noticed Lance’s drooping eyelids and declared that it was time to stop for the night, and that he would be taking first watch. 

Lance started to protest, but a wave of exhaustion washed over him. Using his backpack as a pillow, he laid down next to Keith as the shorter boy took up watch against a tree and fell into a dreamless sleep.

As Lance slept, Keith was content to bask in the silence around him. Honestly, he could’ve died today if Lance hadn’t gotten him the ambrosia in time. When he had first opened his eyes after regaining his strength, Lance had been looming over him, concern palpable on his face. As Keith glanced in Lance’s direction, He once again thought something that he’d been thinking ever since he got to camp. 

Lance was really attractive.

Lance was also really clueless. Keith had tried subtly flirting with him a few times before they had left, but he wasn’t sure if the other boy had picked up on any of it, despite Pidge’s teasing.

Keith sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Lance had definitely been acting touchier since they had set out on the quest. Still, from the way he acted around his friends, Keith couldn’t be sure if the taller boy might be showing interest, or if that was just Lance being Lance. 

He stretched out on the ground so that he was almost parallel to Lance. It would be a little harder to get up and defend himself this way, but the way Lance was suddenly snuggling closer into his side, he determined that the delay was well worth it. 

Despite promising Lance that he would stay up and keep watch, Keith felt his eyelids drooping. He rolled over to watch Lance sleep. Creepy, but giving himself something to do might keep him awake for a little while longer. 

Then Lance ended up wrapping his arm around Keith.

Keith was so caught up in the sudden warmth and security he felt that he ended up falling asleep in the taller boy’s arms.

Hours later, Lance awoke to find himself tied to a different tree in a very different place. The first to wake up, Lance thrashed wildly against the rope before realizing that it was well-tied and not going to budge. He looked at the sleeping Keith next to him. Deciding that two heads were better than one, he shook the smaller boy awake.

“Keith! Psst Keith, wake up!” As Lance said this, Keith did indeed wake up. His eyes widened as he noticed that they were not at their camp anymore. He turned to Lance.

“I’m so sorry I must’ve fallen asleep. I’m so sorry Lance this is all my fault. Even if we get out of this how are we gonna know where we are?”

Lance was quick to soothe the other boy. “It’s not your fault, I should’ve taken over on watch before you got that tired. We’ll figure this out, we’re still only on the second day, right?”

Keith nodded. As he looked at his surroundings, he looked down and noticed that his silver bracelets were missing. All the color drained out of his face.

“Lance. Someone took my knives.”

Hearing this, Lance began to panic. No mortal would think twice about some little bracelets. Whoever had captured them had to be a monster or maybe even a demigod? Lance had heard that some of the rogue demigods from the titan war were still out there, and maybe even had children they were raising in the same way.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by an arrow whizzing over his head and embedding itself in the tree an inch above his hair. 

He looked up in terror for the source of the arrow. Walking towards them with murder in her eyes was a girl with a spiky black pixie cut and storm blue eyes holding a gleaming silver bow.

Lance looked up at the girl. “Who are you? Why did you capture us?”

The girl snapped her fingers, and two more beautiful girls walked up behind her holding equally deadly looking silver bows.

“My name is Thalia Grace, and these are my hunters.” The girl said in a terrifyingly authoritative voice. She produced an all too familiar ballpoint pen and Lance thought he was going to be sick.

“My name is Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of the hunters of Artemis. And you are going to tell me where you got this, or I am going to kill you.”


End file.
